Together
by Moogleworks
Summary: They never got an opportunity to say how they truly feel. Now all they each want is another chance to be together. Lightning/Fang yuri, M rated content and endgame spoilers.
1. Nightmares and Dreamscapes

**Hello! This is my first story; a rough(ish) draft of the first chapter of a Light/Fang (Final Fantasy XIII) fic I'm working on. And when I say first story, I mean first story. Not just first story on FFnet, first story period. So I'd appreciate reviews and constructive criticism from Light/Fang fans and writers! Any tips are welcome, as I'm always looking to improve my writing.**

**The story is rated M for future chapters. All characters are property of Square-Enix, so don't sue me! Enjoy and review, I look forward to seeing what you guys think.**

* * *

Most experts in the field of acoustics agree that of all sounds currently known to mankind, none is so annoying as the ringing of an alarm clock. Most of us begrudgingly roll out of bed and violently attack the clock, slamming the snooze button for another nine minutes of blessed peace before the next alarm shakes us back to reality. Most of us do this four or more times each morning, assuming we don't have urgent business to attend to. But most of us aren't soldiers.

Lightning's body switched to autopilot as soon as the brazen alarm ripped through her dreams. It rolled her over, gently switched the alarm off, and sat up on the edge of the bed. Her body rose from the bed, stretched, and slipped on a robe to protect its owners' modesty before padding off to the bathroom. Her brain, however, remained in bed, pointedly **not** reminding her that today was Saturday and she didn't have to report in at eight o'clock. Her brain was still dreaming. About _her_.

_Fang._

Lightning's mind wandered as she stripped off her robe and stepped into the shower, hissing as the cold spray hit her in the chest. Her mind didn't wander all that often, but when it did, it got into strange territory. _6 months._ Had it really been half a year since they had defeated Orphan and saved Cocoon? No, scratch that. Lightning didn't save Cocoon. She was just along for the ride. Fang and Vanille had saved Cocoon. And while herself, Sazh, Snow and Hope had awakened from crystal stasis only a day or so after the floating world ceased to float, the Pulsians were nowhere to be found. Presumably their crystals were locked somewhere deep within the massive pillar that now held Cocoon aloft, and whether they could be reached, or would ever wake up, was questionable.

Lightning sighed as the water started to warm up, squeezing a handful of body wash into her palm and working it into a lather. From the moment they'd met, Lightning had had a love-hate relationship with the huntress. She hated Fang's cocky attitude and her flirtatious behavior, and although she was loathe to admit it, she was also a touch jealous of her fighting skill. But she loved the way the Oerban strolled confidently into battle, and she loved how much of herself she saw in Fang. Above all else, she loved the sound of Fang's voice, the smell of her after a hard fought battle, and the feeling she got from looking into those deep green eyes. Light prided herself on keeping her emotions a closely guarded secret, but when Fang tried to read her it felt like those eyes were peering into her soul. She felt that she could control her libido better than most, but when Fang's gaze passed hungrily over her; practically undressing her with her eyes; she melted like butter, feeling a sudden and desperate urge to get some time away from the rest of the party. Thinking about those eyes now, Lightning let out a small moan as her hands worked the lather over her stomach and chest.

They had had a lot of sexual tension between them. That much was certain. But nothing had ever happened between them, and it wasn't until after the adventure was over that Lightning was able to admit her deeper feelings for Fang. To herself, of course. She hadn't confided in anyone else, not even Serah. Of course, it was too late by then. Which brings us to the present. A sexually frustrated soldier daydreaming about a potential lover and desperately trying not to let her hands wander as far as her mind had. She was just about to fail, too, when she was jerked back to reality by a loud knock on the bathroom door. _Serah._ Trying to hide the tremor in her voice, Light shouted above the shower. "Occupied. What do you need?"

"Lightning? Why are you up so early?" her sister replied. Why was she up so early? She mulled the question over in her head as her brain lazily rolled out of bed and snuck into the shower with her. A few seconds later she realized why that question made sense. _Shit. How did I forget the day of the week?_ Light had been distracted lately, certainly, but she didn't think she'd slipped up that bad. Maybe she was working too much. She made an excuse up on the spot as she finished rinsing the suds off of herself and turned off the water. "I'm taking Hope down to Pulse for some training. Need to head out early." It was as good an excuse as any. She had been spending a lot of time with the youth. After she had taken him under her wing during their time as Pulse l'cie on the run, Hope had become somewhat attached to her. Now she would regularly take him hunting or training in order to toughen him up. He'd been entertaining thoughts of joining the Corps for awhile.

Lightning pulled the robe tight around herself and tied it off as she stepped out into the hall. Serah was already dressed, and by the smell of things she was working on breakfast. Aside from her dryness and state of dress, the younger Farron sibling looked like slightly smaller duplicate of her sister. She'd even taken to wearing her hair down. Said Snow liked it that way. Speaking of whom...

"So where's your hero at? Still in bed?" Lightning asked as she padded back to her room, Serah in tow.

"No, he's been up for almost an hour. He went to the grocery store. We're out of eggs."

"Oh." Light crossed the threshold into her room and turned on her heel. "Well, at least he's useful for something," she quipped as she shut the door and locked it. She could practically hear her sister rolling her eyes before she turned and walked away. Lightning had been thinking more and more about Fang lately, and as an unintended side effect, she had been harping on Snow all the more. Jealous? Maybe. Either way, Serah didn't seem to mind too much. She probably thought Lightning was just joking. Light herself didn't know if she was serious or joking half the time when it came to Snow. She was usually somewhere in between.

_I've gotta stop thinking about him._ She sighed as she stripped off the robe and took a towel to her hair, mercilessly rubbing it to the point where it was almost dry and then pulling it down into its usual shape with a comb. As she pulled her hair down over her left shoulder, she admired herself in the mirror. Lightning wasn't particularly vain. But she knew she looked good, and so did everyone else. The only complaint she had ever received about her appearance was from Snow's friend, Yuj, regarding her unusual hairstyle. Coming from a grown man who wore his hair bright teal and with more product than most of Serah's friends, the remark was so ridiculous that Lightning hadn't even had the heart to smack him upside the head for it.

Light casually dropped the comb on her dresser and opened her closet, picking out some of her usual garments. She toyed with the idea of finishing her "personal time" that Serah had interrupted, images of the dark Pulsian huntress flashing through her mind, but she thought better of it. She had said she needed to meet Hope, and anyway, the sooner she left the less time she'd have to spend near Snow. She pulled on her underwear before she could change her mind, followed by the tight shorts she favored and her usual brown leather skirt and belt. She then pulled on her brown, zippered turtleneck. On top of that went her jacket. She pulled on her gloves, flexing her fingers as she did so, then slipped on her armbands and started belting her various accessories; cloak, thigh pack, rank insignia, gunblade holster; to her person. Finally, she pulled on her boots, drawing the belts on them tight, and gave herself one last look in the mirror. Her outfits tended to lean this way. To the untrained eye, they looked needlessly complicated. But they were functional, and they looked alright, and that was good enough for Light. Satisfied with her appearance, the soldier unlocked the door and headed downstairs to see how long she could avoid talking to Snow over breakfast.

* * *

Crystal sleep isn't like regular sleep. It's difficult to explain to someone who has never experienced it, but there are a few key differences. The first is the most obvious. When you sleep, your body is still working. Your lungs are pumping air into your blood, your heart is taking that blood to your brain, and your brain is painting dreamscapes. These processes are bypassed in crystal. In the ageless slumber, your body is completely still. Your mind **is** awake, though, fueled by the magic in the crystal around it. For some l'cie, this awareness is barely perceptible. They are only cognizant enough to realize that they are, in fact, still living. In a sense. For some, the awareness extends beyond their crystal coffin, allowing them to hear and see everything that goes on in the vicinity. Most however, are kept in what appears to them, in all respects, as a normal slumber. Complete with dreams and nightmares.

The second difference between the two is the awakening. In a normal sleep cycle, a person can be awakened by an outside influence. Or when they realize they're dreaming and will themselves to wake. Or if their body's clock simply tells them it's time to get up. Not so in crystal stasis. In crystal stasis, there's no way to tell when you'll wake up. For the longest time, the citizens of Cocoon believed the slumber to be eternal. The Pulsians knew better. Before the War, all l'cie turned to crystal woke up later. Sometimes it took days, sometimes centuries, but everyone eventually woke up. Aside from intervention by the fal'cie, however, no one on Gran Pulse really knew what exactly awoke a crystalline l'cie. Some said they needed confirmation that their focus was completed. Some claimed that they were only awakened to be given a new focus. Some of the more naive, younger denizens of the lowerworld swore that only true love could awaken a frozen l'cie.

Finally, if a l'cie dreams in crystal, those dreams are influenced by his or her focus. That is to say, they are usually related in some way. If a focus was particularly traumatic, the l'cie may be plagued by nightmares. They might replay climactic battles in their heads. If they shared a focus with others, the l'cie may dream about their companions, even if the dreams themselves have no other relation to the focus. This is particularly true of l'cie who share an especially strong emotional bond...

* * *

Oerba Yun Fang awoke on the beach in Bodhum. Alone. Feeling as if she had been drugged. She groggily got to her feet and shook her head to clear it, taking a look around to get her bearings. The sun was just setting over the ocean. It would have made for a beautiful scene if the beach hadn't been so _eerily_ deserted. Fang wiggled her toes, feeling the sand between them. _I'm barefoot, _she observed. She clenched her right hand a few times, then patted her back. _My lance is gone._ She took a quick look around. _And I'm alone. Great._ Fang let out a loud sigh and started padding along the beach. She could have moved up to the pier, or gone to the beach house, but that didn't feel _right._ There was something further down the beach for her, she could feel that.

Most who dream in crystal aren't aware that they are dreaming until they "wake up." That is to say, the dreams stop and they become aware of their surroundings once more, or else return to their fog. Fang had had hundreds of thousands of dreams across her two periods of hibernation, and every dream still caught her off guard. This one was no different. A small part of her mind knew ahead of time that she'd see Lightning coming over the horizon, but she wasn't listening to it.

Lightning looked beautiful. Even across such a distance, Fang's sharp eyes could make out all the pertinent details. Her hair, a deliciously light strawberry blonde, almost pink, fell loose over her left shoulder. Her eyes were the familiar piercing blue, flashing at the Pulsian across the beach. She was fully clothed, her gunblade in its sheath swinging lazily, bouncing off her hips with every step.

All dreams start out beautiful. The bad ones don't go bad until they get your guard down.

They closed the distance slowly, Fang smiling seductively at the blonde. The beach was incredibly long, but neither of them tired, and slowly, foot by foot, they came together. It wasn't until they got within a hundred feet of each other that Fang noticed something odd about the soldier. Her eyes flicked back and forth from Light's hand to her face. _She's not smiling. She reaching for her gunblade. She's scowling. She's drawing it. She's snarling. She's fir-_

The subconscious part of Fang's brain that knew this was a dream had been telling her that something was wrong ever since it noticed her spear was missing. _You KNOW you can have nightmares in crystal. Get out of here! Wake up, you idiot! _Her conscious mind, however, has been ignoring it until just now, and she was now too busy processing the pain of Lightning's first shot entering just under her left shoulder blade to care. _Oh, shit!_ She hissed in pain even as she flipped back through the air, gracefully dodging Light's next four shots.

"Lightning, what the hell! It's me!" Fang instinctively tried to block the next shot with a lance that wasn't there, and nearly lost an ear for her trouble. Light wasn't listening to her at all. She wasn't running toward her either. She was dead calm, taking slow deliberate steps in Fang's direction while squeezing off a steady stream of gunfire. She wasn't _Light _anymore. Not even Lightning. She was a zombie. She was an uncaring, unfeeling, nightmare-fueled killing machine. And she was getting closer.

Gripping her injured shoulder, Fang turned and bolted back the way she came, zigzagging as she felt, more so than heard, the bullets ripping up clouds of sand at her heels. Before she could get out of range, however she saw another figure in the distance. _Is that...Vanille? _Fang stopped dead in her tracks. It was. Vanille didn't change gradually into a soulless killing machine like Lightning had. No, the nightmare was done screwing around. Her pinkish-red hair, usually bound into cute pigtails, was loose, and whipping wildly about her face as raw magical energy flowed about her. The girl was harnessing magic she never could have imagined in the real world. Her green eyes, usually glowing with a playful excitement, were now burning with an intense, violent hatred.

At a certain point, bad dreams stop playing with us and go in for the kill. We become completely helpless. You're trying to run from someone and your legs turn to rubber. Rescue is within earshot and suddenly your voice is gone.

Overwhelmed by hopelessness, Fang dropped to her knees on the beach, unable to run any further. As she watched the horror wearing her adoptive sister's skin bear down on her, she replayed every moment of their life together in her head. It was cruel and terrible, but it was nothing to the images that flashed in her head as she felt Lightning's soft footsteps in the sand behind her. Her mind forced images on her, images of Light arching gracefully through the air, of Light training with Hope, of Light training with _her, _of Light's smile. And Fang had no choice but to view them as she heard a low click and felt the barrel of the Omega Weapon pressed against her scalp.

In dreams or otherwise, Oerba Yun Fang had cried only four times in her life that she could remember. A single tear rolled down her cheek as this nightmare version of the girl she loved put a round through her skull.

* * *

Lightning loaded rubberized stun rounds into a training gunblade. They were designed for practice drills and war games. The rounds would hurt like a bitch, but they wouldn't kill. Neither would the blade, which was also blunted and rubberized. The soldier eyed Hope, waiting for the boy to confirm that he was ready to start sparring.

She had called Hope as soon as she got out of the house. She explained that she wanted to take him hunting and sparring on Gran Pulse, and the boy had been ready to go by the time she arrived at his house in Palumpolum. Light was glad to see he had chosen practical attire and had the foresight to bring a practice boomerang for sparring as well as his Nue. He had the practice boomerang out now, tweaking it for the fight.

Hope finished checking the boomerang and nodded to Light, dropping into a defensive posture. They had agreed not to use magic for this fight, which put Hope at a severe disadvantage. He was getting better with every match, but Lightning still had to hold back when they fought. Usually.

Lightning sighted with her gunblade and started jogging toward Hope, squeezing off a few rounds. Hope was ready, deflecting the first two with the flat of his boomerang before rolling to the side, coming up into a run. He tossed the boomerang at Lightning with a casual flick, running perpendicular to its trajectory with a steady spray of stun rounds tearing up the grass at his feet. Light saw the projectile coming and leapt over it, triggering her Grav-Con Unit at the same time to propel herself twenty feet into the air.

Hope saw this move coming and as Light leapt toward him he suddenly changed direction, rolling toward her just in time to avoid the stun rounds whizzing through his hair. Light twisted in midair, struggling to track the boy's movement. She grimaced, flogging herself mentally for underestimating him. _He's definitely getting better. _Hope ran underneath her, snagging the boomerang on its return arc and immediately flipping it up at Lightning. The soldier shifted her center of gravity, flipping through the air and bringing her blade up just in time to block the projectile. It clanged off her sword, jarring her violently and throwing off balance. The boomerang dropped back into Hope's waiting hands, and Lightning found herself having to roll as she hit the ground to avoid a sloppy landing and a possible injury. She came out of the roll to find Hope ready for her, swinging the boomerang at her ribs. The soldier parried the blow and began to backpedal, desperately trying to gain advantage. Panting, she cursed her lack of grace as she deflected the boomerang for the umpteenth time, unable to find an opening.

Sweat dripped from Hope's brow as he pushed the soldier back. He knew he wouldn't be able to sustain an assault like this for long. Suddenly disengaging, Hope jumped backwards, flinging the boomerang sidearm at Lightning. She deflected it handily, but wasn't ready for the boy to follow up with a low, sweeping kick that knocked her legs out from under her. Hope would have won at that instant if Light's soldier instincts hadn't kicked in and overridden her surprise at being caught so completely off guard. Her body caught itself as she fell, tumbling backwards and dropping into a low crouch, gun leveled at Hope's forehead as he moved in for a quick finish.

They froze there, the barrel of the gunblade inches from Hope's face. Sweating and panting, they glared at each other for a few moments before Hope conceded defeat. The boy dropped to the ground and lay on his back, completely spent. "Damn," he gasped, "I thought I finally had you there..."

"For a second, I did too," Lightning admitted as she closed her gunblade with a quick flick of her wrist and sheathed it. Light suppressed a smile as she got up, holding out a hand to help Hope up. She couldn't help but feel an immense sense of pride for her part in helping toughen Hope up and training him. He looked just as gentle and carefree as ever, silvery blond hair blowing in the breeze. But he had been soft on the inside when they first met, and now? Now he could defend himself. And then some.

As the twosome began the trek back across the Archylte to the nearest waystone, Lightning's eyes wandered to the crystal pillar in the distance holding Cocoon aloft. Hope followed her gaze.

"Do you think we'll ever see them again?" he asked. The kid was also severely empathic. It was annoying at times how good he was at reading people. Lightning had been thinking about Fang again, but she wasn't about to let the boy know. She doubled up her emotional barriers before replying.

"I dunno. With any luck, yeah. Why?"

"I'd really like to meet Vanille again..." Hope's thought trailed off into the crisp spring air. Lightning eyed him suspiciously. The boy was only 15 years old. 14, when they had first met, right? How old was Vanille? 18, 19? There was no way the two could have been...involved. Was there? _Stop it. _Lightning berated herself for letting her mind wander into forbidden territory. Hope and Vanille were even harder than think about Snow and Serah, and she quickly pushed the thought away. Still, she couldn't help but cast one more longing glance at the crystalline pillar before they activated the waystone.

_I sure hope we do._

* * *

If Fang was capable of breathing, she would have awoken with a panicked gasp. If she could perspire, she'd be drenched in a cool sweat. To someone who doesn't have nightmares often, the occasional one that slips through can be especially haunting.

As it was, Fang slipped away from the dream and into the "waking" state of a crystal l'cie in a state of extreme emotional turmoil. She was aware of Vanille's physical presence nearby. The real Vanille, not a nightmarish doppelganger. It helped to calm her down. During her last crystal slumber, Fang's nightmares had been few and far between, safely nestled in the midst of a plethora of pleasant fantasies. The few nightmares she did have all involved Vanille. Vanille being hurt, Vanille being lost, Vanille turning cie'th, etc. Now Lightning was also a prominent feature in her dreams, both pleasant and horrible. And the Oerban knew exactly why.

Fang loved Lightning. She'd been infatuated with the soldier since the first time they met, and over the course of their adventure those feelings had only grown stronger. Now her mind was playing off of her regret at never having expressed her feelings, her anger at the fal'cie for separating them, and her fear that she would never get another chance to see her. Those emotions were feeding her imagination and producing nightmares that were entirely too vivid, and traumatic enough to rattle even the stoic huntress. Even now, with no functional nerve endings, she could still feel the barrel of Lightning's gunblade pressed against her scalp. If she had skin, it would be covered in goosebumps. The worst part was that, unlike Vanille, Lightning was nowhere nearby. There was no comfortable presence to turn to after the nightmare. Only a sense of emptiness and longing.

Fang's last thought before slipping into her next dream was a prayer to Anima. To make the nightmares stop. To let them wake up. To let her be with Light again, whether the soldier would accept her or not. To give her one more chance to show her how she felt.

_I need to get out of here._

Fang faded back into her dreams with visions of the beautiful blonde soldier dancing through her head.


	2. Fantasia

**Okay, chapter two. A few things to mention. One, YES, this is my first story! I suppose I may just have that thing. Whaddya call it. Talent, I think. Secondly, I've seen Light's hair referred to in a couple of different fanfics as strawberry blond. I could see that, if it was a really light shade. Almost albino. I'll continue to call it that, or "pinkish," because I like it, and it's easier :p. Thirdly, sorry for this chapter being a bit short (just over half the length of the first one). You can expect my chapters to vary wildly in length. Fourthly, I dunno when the next one will be up. I have several other matters to attend to, and I want to play through the earlier chapters of the game again, so it may be awhile.**

**As always, Square Enix owns everything, I own nothing. M rated content in this chapter, so make the young'ns leave the room. Enjoy, comment, and tell your friends! If you get twenty people to read it, you win a free Xbox 360!***

***Xbox 360 not actually free, or available.  
**

* * *

The word strength means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. To Hope Estheim, strength meant overcoming his flaws and becoming more mature. To Sazh Katzroy, strength meant protecting his son at all costs. To Lightning Farron, strength meant keeping other people from seeing how much she hurt. And to Snow Villiers, strength meant benching 375 pounds.

Snow smirked as he sat up on the bench and rolled his shoulders. He was bare chested, his muscles rippling beneath his skin. His blond hair was plastered to his head with sweat. The pounding bass line from the speakers bordered on deafening. Just the way he liked it. He had set up this gym, complete with several types of weights and exercise machines, in his basement for a few reasons. One, he liked to work out for at least an hour every day, and it was a damn sight more convenient than walking or driving his bike to the gym. Two, he could play his music as loud as he liked. And three...he had been kicked out of the gym in Bodhum after he ruptured his sixth punching bag. Even without the AMP glyphs in his coat enhancing his strength, the man was a beast.

The massive blond pulled himself up from the bench with a groan and grabbed a towel, wiping his face and shoulders as he clicked off the boombox. The gym was eerily silent in the wake of the blasting rock anthem. His footsteps fell heavy and loud on the stairs as he climbed out of the basement and wandered to the bathroom to rinse off the sheen of sweat.. Unfortunately, Snow was greeted by a locked door and the sound of a shower.

_Serah's out, so this must be...shit._

Serah's big sister had been in a foul temper recently, and any animosity she directed at anyone was bound to hit Snow thrice as hard. Deep down, Snow knew that she liked him. Sort of. Or, at least, accepted him as a part of her life. But the soldier was so damn _stubborn,_ and her half-teasing jabs at her favorite punching bag were starting to get a bit out of hand. Taking a deep breath, he gently rapped on the door, bracing for an onslaught of abuse.

* * *

"Libido" was not a word in Lightning's day-to-day vocabulary. A side effect of suppressing her emotions so thoroughly was that she also tended to suppress her sex drive. Which wasn't entirely unintentional, since the soldier tended to view sex as a distraction anyway. But after having dreams about Fang for several nights in a row, Light was finding her primal urges more and more difficult to control. She had resigned to fulfilling them herself the other night, but she tended to get too loud for her own good, and she hadn't had a good opportunity to relieve herself of the building tension until her shower yesterday morning. And Serah had interrupted. Of course.

Today, though...today Serah was running errands all morning. And Snow was all the way in the basement, lifting weights and blasting his rock music. There would be no interruptions this morning. Light would take a nice, long, hot shower and really "enjoy" herself. She locked the door, turned on the water, and stripped her robe. Her mind was already running wild, trying to choose from the myriad fantasies about Fang it had cooked up in her sleep. Stepping into the warm stream of water, she settled on the one involving a tandem chocobo ride across the Archylte followed by a night of passionate love making under the light of the artificial moon.

Light sighed as she caressed herself. She hadn't masturbated in months, and the simple feeling of hands, even her own, running over her skin with such a light yet passionate touch set a fire between her legs. Leaning back against the shower wall, she let her hands wander, gently grazing the skin with her nails. Her left came to rest on her breast, squeezing the soft globe and feeling the nub of her nipple harden under the touch. Her right traced circles down her stomach, steadily working toward the burning need in her loins. She teased herself, coming ever so close to her most sensitive spot before taking the hand away. Light imagined that Fang was the one toying with her, dominating her and playfully holding back to slowly build the intensity of her need. The thought of the Pulsian's hands roaming her skin was too much to take, and Light finally gave in, gently dipping two fingers into herself with a protracted sigh.

As she slid her fingers in and out of the warm, wet tunnel, Lightning imagined Fang's hands, Fang's mouth, Fang's tongue, all gently but firmly exploring every inch of her. She could practically smell the dark-haired beauty, taste her tongue as they kissed, feel her gently nibble on her ear and hear her soft breath. Two fingers became three, and Lightning increased the tempo, her fingers ravaging her sex as she began to buck her hips. She humped her hand vigorously, her sensitive clit bouncing off her palm and sending jolts of pleasure up through her body to numb her brain and tingle in her extremities. The sound of the shower, of Snow's distant music and of her own labored breathing slowly faded away as she curled her fingers up and in and the fire inside of her intensified. All she could think about was Fang, and of course, by the transitive property of masturbation, her impending orgasm. So she didn't notice when the music in the background stopped, and she didn't hear the heavy footfalls coming up the stairs. In fact, it wasn't until she was right on the edge, whimpering, only a few quick thrusts from releasing the molten desire within her in the form of a sticky puddle on the shower floor, that she was dragged back to reality by a quick, hard rap on the bathroom door.

_FUCK!_

"Lightning? Hey, are you in there?"

Lightning ceased all movement, immediately coming down from her euphoric high. Under her breath, she swore to Eden that she would castrate Snow at the next available opportunity. She took a few deep, calming breaths.

"Sis? You alright?" he called.

Deep, yes, but none too calming. "I'M NOT YOUR FUCKING SISTER!"

Snow grimaced on the other side of the door. Yeah, she was fine. Her usual, irritable self. "My bad, Light."

"Yeah, it is! The hell do you want?"

So help her, if Snow had interrupted her for something stupid-

"I just wanted to see if you could let me know when the shower's open. No rush, though."

_You've got to be fucking kidding me. _Lightning punched the tile wall, scattering droplets of water and generating a dull thud. She tried to keep the murderous tone out of her voice as she replied, "Yeah, Snow, sure. Whatever." She slowly picked herself up off the shower floor on shaky legs that didn't quite yet want to support her weight. Hearing Snow thud back down the stairs, she rested her forehead on the cool tiles. _I can't even **fantasize** about her now? _There was no time to start over. And she was most definitely no longer in the mood. Light made a mental note to poison her brother-in-law's next meal as she quickly scrubbed the sweat and...other fluids off of herself before turning the shower off.

* * *

Not all of Fang's dreams were nightmares. Far from it. Her dreams were as diverse and varied as the indigenous fauna of Gran Pulse. But Lightning was a constant. Almost every dream, pleasant or not, featured the soldier. And this particular dream was definitely pleasant. Fang was lying on her back on a bedroll. The dying light of the campfire cast a warm glow over the interlaced forms of the huntress and the soldier. They were both nude under the stars, and Lightning was sleeping peacefully on top of the Pulsian, head cradled against her chest, softly rising and falling with her breath. The girl's light, pinkish-blond hair shone brilliantly in the dim light.

They had made love three times. Not screwed, not fucked, but actually made love. These were the dreams that made the nightmares worth enduring. Fang felt incredibly, amazingly at peace as she looked up at the stars, clutching the soldier to her chest, lightly stroking the soft, warm flesh of her back. _I could stay here forever._ She was loathe to lose even one second of the gentle embrace, but she too could feel sleep coming on. The exertions of the night had worn out Light faster than they had Fang, and the soldier had gone to sleep to the sound of Fang's breathing almost as soon as they finished. Fang had just a bit more endurance than that.

It's not uncommon for one's subconscious to use dreams as a medium of expression. Most of us have had instances of dreams trying to "tell us something." It's usually something subtle. Barely noticeable. It typically doesn't manifest in the form of a lover directly telling us what it wants us to hear. But Fang's dreams had Lightning in them, and that meant that they were never typical. Just as Fang was about to let sleep take over, she felt Lightning shift in her arms, ever so slightly. "Fang...?" she mumbled groggily.

"Right here," she muttered, kissing the top of Light's head affectionately.

"Fang...this isn't real..." her voice was getting clearer. Sharper.

"Of course it is, love. You're dreaming. Go back to sleep."

"No, I mean it." Light wriggled free and looked Fang in the eye. She was wide awake now, and her eyes were glinting in the dim firelight, deathly serious. The Pulsian felt her breath catch. _No..._she groaned inwardly. _It can't be a dream...it just can't. _"Light, please..."

"No, Fang, listen. You know I'm not really here...you just don't want to believe it."

Fang's head was whirling. Of all the dreams she had had in crystal, she hadn't been aware of any until after they were over. This was a new experience for her. As she looked into the soldier's eyes, she felt a flood of memory as all the nightmares she had had overwhelmed her senses. Fang screwed her eyes shut. No, she didn't want this to be a dream. She wanted it to be real. But she couldn't keep lying to herself.

"Light...I have to believe it. You don't understand. There's nothing else I can do! What do you want from me?"

"I understand, Fang. I understand everything you do. It's not about what I want. It's about what **you** want."

Lightning rose up from the bedroll, silhouetted against the sky, and pointed toward Cocoon. "Look, Fang." The huntress's gaze drifted upward to the shell of the artificial planet. "I'm not really here. You _know _it. I'm up there, waiting for you. You want to be with me...right?"

"I bloody well do! More than anything!" Fang punched the dirt in frustration and anger. Anger at herself, for crafting these illusions. For lying to herself. Anger at the fal'cie. At Anima. Anger at whatever force wouldn't let her out of this damned crystal sleep.

"Do you remember how you woke up? Last time, I mean?" Fang looked up. The soldier was kneeling on the ground next to her now, eyes locked on the Pulsian. "I was awakened...by Anima...to finish our focus."

"Anima didn't wake you up, Fang," she replied. Light's hands were wrapped around Fang's upper arm, a comforting touch even if she knew it wasn't real. "You woke you up. To complete your focus, yes, but you were the one who chose to go on. Not some damned fal'cie. We both know you're too stubborn to take orders from them."

Fang gasped as she felt a searing heat under Light's palms. She pulled the arm away with a yelp and inspected it with a grimace. In the low light of the fire, she could just make out a l'cie brand. Not the scorched, twisted brand of Anima she was used to seeing, but a new brand. The design was similar to the tribal tattoo on her opposite arm, but smaller, and with a stylized lightning bolt running through it. She stared at it in wonder for a few moments before looking back up at the soldier. "How...?"

"It's a dream, Fang. I can do anything I want. Or, technically, anything you want." Lightning smiled at her, running her hand over the new brand in a loving caress. "Now you've got a new focus. Promise you'll come and find me?"

"Of course! But Light..."

"There's no time, Fang. You're waking up. Meet me on the other side. I'll be waiting."

Lightning leaned in for one last kiss. Fang held her closely, tenderly, wringing every last bit of passion from the embrace as the soldier slowly faded away to nothing...

* * *

Craters are pretty interesting, as far as geological anomalies go. Depending upon the circumstances, they can be one of the best or worst places to be. If a large nugget of Adamantite has recently fallen from the sky, a crater can be particularly lucrative. If the crater in question is a volcano, you almost never want to be in it. A crater also happens to be one of the worst places you can wake up, next to a fresh grave or an Adamantoise nest.

Every muscle in Fang's body screamed in protest as she dragged herself out of the hole. Even in crystal, it had been a hell of a fall. She'd taken Vanille with her somehow, but the girl was still frozen. Ah, well. She'd come out of it soon enough. Or else she could be relocated later. For now, Fang had bearings to collect and injuries to tend to. Grunting with the effort, the dark huntress managed to wrestle herself into a seated position. Tenderly, she turned her head, examining her right arm. No brand. Crystal clear, you might say. _Of course there's no brand. It was just a dream. _Still. That didn't make it any less significant. She laid back down, eyes cast up along the crystal pillar at the shell of Cocoon above her, and managed a weak smile. She needed to recover, and soon. There was urgent business to attend to.

_I'm coming._


	3. Somebody to Love

**Okay, chapter three. Yeah, I named my first three chapters after a Stephen King collection, a Disney film, and a Queen song. Respectively. Can you tell I'm making them up as I go along?**

**For the record, there's no plan here. I'm letting the story come naturally. Which means two things. One, no regular update schedule. And two, I don't know exactly where it's going. Which means YOU, the reader, can have a part in shaping it! So be sure to leave feedback and suggestions in a review. If you liked what you read, let me know. And let your friends know. And your pets, if they're into that sort of thing. I honestly don't care. But not your kids, because this story is a tad bit naughty.  
**

**As always, I don't own any of these characters. They all belong to Square-Enix, and I will continue to point it out as long as I am unsure of the legal ramifications of not doing so. :p  
**

* * *

Fang stared up at the orb of Cocoon, held aloft in the late afternoon sky by the sparkling spire of crystal. Thoughts of Lightning crept into her head, but she pushed them away. She was on point, and until they reached the open plains, the Oerbans had to be wary of any threat.

It had taken Fang almost a week to recover fully from the fall. Her possessions had been scattered. She had found her pouch in a ditch several yards from the edge of her makeshift camp, and luckily, it contained a few days worth of rations. For three full days after awakening, Fang had barely been able to walk, let alone hunt. Either she had been in the process of de-crystallization as she fell, or she had severely overestimated the ability of the crystal to protect her.

After the rations ran out, Fang began using traps and magic to bag small game. Once she got her strength back and extricated her spear from a particularly uncooperative thorn bush, she was able to work her way up to the Behemoths whose skin now provided their packs and bedrolls. The Pulsian had also managed to pinpoint her location, and knew how to reach Oerba with a fair degree of certainty.

As expected, Vanille had woken up shortly after Fang. Four days after, to be exact. Probably from a combination of the fall-related shock and of seeing Fang up and about. Vanille had awoken in a considerably less damaged state than Fang, and was immediately assigned guard duty while the brunette hunted. Vanille's awakening also meant the presence of a capable medic, which greatly accelerated the healing process of both women. Three days later, they had broken down their camp, such as it was, and started hiking.

Fang tore her eyes away from Cocoon and concentrated on the worn path. _Northeast. All the way to the village. _Vanille had agreed wholeheartedly that they should head for Oerba. For one, it was the closest landmark, and if they had to set up camp for an extended period of time, an actual dwelling would be a damn sight better than a Behemoth-skin tarp. And secondly, Oerba would be their most likely opportunity for finding a way to Cocoon. Fang's crystal had gone with her brand, and though they could still cast magic, their Eidolons were gone. For good, it appeared. And without Bahamut to hitch a ride with, neither of them had any idea how they were going to get to the artificial world short of climbing the sheer crystal cliffs, which was immediately ruled out as an option. But if any of the old party visited Gran Pulse, Oerba would be a likely stop. Fang and Vanille might be able to find clues there, or even a way up. Or that was the idea, anyway.

Fang had been overjoyed at Vanille's awakening. The younger girl reciprocated, judging by the rib-shattering hug the redhead had bestowed upon her. But until they could make it to Bodhum...until she got a chance to see Lightning again...Fang wouldn't be satisfied. It didn't matter if Light had the same feelings she did. The Oerban just needed to see her and let her know how she felt.

Fang sighed inwardly and called over her shoulder to Vanille, "Pick up the pace! We should hit the plains by sundown!"

* * *

Vanille noticed the way Fang glanced at Cocoon occasionally. The younger girl knew her friend too well to **not** notice it. She also knew Fang well enough to know that she shouldn't mention it. Not yet, anyway. She could tell what was going on, though. Fang had the same feelings for Lightning that Vanille had for Hope. This particular bit of information wasn't something she had needed to find out herself, however...

"_Vanille, can I tell you something? In confidence?"_

_They were sitting on a rock next to the fire, relaxing after an arduous hike across the Archylte. Lightning was on lookout duty, Snow was grabbing a nap, and Hope and Sazh were playing with the chocobo chick on the other side of camp. The Oerbans could whisper a conversation without privacy being an issue._

"_Of course you can," Vanille replied. "That's a silly question!"_

"_Well, it's kind of a big deal..." The older Pulsian stared into the fire pensively. Vanille eyed her suspiciously. There weren't many things in Fang's life that she considered "big deals."_

"_Fang...is something the matter?" Vanille asked, placing a comforting hand on the brunette's knee._

"_Not the matter...strictly speaking." Fang glanced up, and Vanille followed her gaze to where Lightning stood guard. Silhouetted against the stars, they could see that she was alert for any trouble, blade drawn. Tightly wound, as always; the woman was all nerves. Fang and the soldier had clashed on more than a few occasions. Fang's easygoing personality tended to conflict with Lightning's more conservative outlook. The fact that both women were natural leaders only made things worse._

"_Is it something Light said?" Vanille frowned._

"_No..."_

"_Well, out with it! How can I help you if you won't tell me?"_

_Fang sighed. She was only Vanille's elder by two years, but to the best of her knowledge, Vanille hadn't experienced love. Attraction, definitely. Infatuation? Hell yes. Lust? Oh, Maker, yes. But Fang herself felt that she hadn't known love until that cocky soldier exploded into her life. How could she know if Vanille understood what it was like? And if she didn't, how would she explain it?_

_For her part, Vanille was patient. _Give her time, _she thought. _She'll tell you when she's ready.

"_Vanille...d'you like any of the l'cie?"_

_The question caught the younger girl off guard. "You mean here? Of course!"_

"_No, I mean...'like' like." Fang grimaced at the use of the juvenile expression._

_Comprehension suddenly dawned on Vanille. The girl looked from Fang to Lightning and back again, connecting the dots in her head. The arguments, the lingering gazes...how had she not seen it earlier? _They do say opposites attract...

"_Oh...I think I get it. You like Lightning, don't you?"_

_Fang almost winced. Of course, the girl would have to put it so bluntly. "Well...yeah, I do. I don't know what to do about it."_

"_Do? Whaddya mean? Have you talked to her?"_

"_Are you kidding? She'd cut my arse off and force-feed it to me."_

"_You don't know that! C'mon, you're just being shy." It felt weird to say that out loud. Fang wasn't shy about **anything**. This must be a serious case of 'like' like. "Do you want me to talk to her for you?"_

"_Oh, Etro, no. It would only lead to trouble, anyway. Even if she reciprocated..." Vanille arched an eyebrow at this bit. Fang took note. "...which I'm sure she wouldn't...what then? As long as we have this focus, it's too dangerous for us to get...involved."_

"_Okay..." Vanille spoke slowly, choosing her words with care. "So what do you want me to do? How can I help?"_

"_I dunno..." Fang screwed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I just...I just needed to get it off my chest, I guess."_

"_Well...I didn't even know you were into girls!" Vanille giggled, wrapping Fang's waist in a tight hug. The older Pulsian managed a weak laugh. "Yeah, I'm chock full of surprises, aren't I?" She wrapped an arm around Vanille's shoulders, holding her close as they both stared into the fire. "Maybe you can tell her later," suggested the redhead. "Y'know, after the focus." Yeah. After the focus. When they were dead or cie'th. Or crystal. It wasn't entirely impossible. They'd been crystal before, anyway._

"_Yeah...yeah, maybe..."_

_

* * *

_

Most people hate Mondays with a passion. A Monday means the start to a new work week, and a full five days before we get another chance to relax. We go to bed Sunday night dreading the next morning. Lightning, on the other hand, hated Fridays. A bit unorthodox, perhaps. But work was where Lightning felt in her element. Drills, training, guard duty...the soldier only felt at ease when she was **doing** something. More importantly, work distracted her. To be honest, Serah was the only tolerable part of her home life. But Serah and Snow went hand in hand, and Snow was...well, Snow. He was a decent guy in small doses, but living with him was a challenge.

Work also distracted Lightning from _her._ The soldier still hadn't been able to get Fang out of her head. She was halfway through watching Fang slaughter a pack of Gorgonospids in her mind when Amodar's voice cut in. "Sergeant Farron, you wanna run this course today?"

"Sorry, sir!" Light shook her head to clear it. The lieutenant just smiled at her. "C'mon, Farron. Run the drill, hit the showers and get out of here. You keep working as hard as you've been, your head's liable to explode." Lightning sighed and stood up.

They were waiting just outside the Gauntlet. Conceived as a training ground for elite soldiers, it was a combination firing range and obstacle course filled with traps, dummies and obstructions. It could take the form of an open-range shootout, a close-quarters indoor sweep, or anything in between. The techs updated it every week. Light's fastest time was just under forty seconds. Second place for that week had been two minutes.

The soldier rolled her shoulders, exhaled deeply, and drew her weapon, the sharp steel of the gunblade glinting as she flipped it open. "Alright...I'm ready when you are." Above the motorized steel door, a digital timer clicked on, displaying 00:00;00. Amodar glanced up at the timer, but Lightning was already in mission mode. Her eyes never left the door. Every last thought of Fang was pushed out of her mind as the door dropped open with a sharp clang and she leapt over the threshold into the dimly lit hallway beyond.

The corridor twisted sharply. Left, right, left again. Three turns in, she was greeted by a trio of dummies and a spray of stun rounds. Leaping gracefully over the suppressing fire, Lightning cleanly decapitated the first dummy, using its body to absorb the rubber bullets as she shot the other two. Two clean shots to each stuffed chest, and the techs watching her through the surveillance cameras turned off the gunfire. Light darted around the next corner and emerged into what appeared to be a heavily modified aircraft hangar. Catwalks crisscrossed through the empty space, and she could see several dummies. Each had a motion sensor and a rifle mounted next to it. Most were trained on the soldier. _Damn._

Lightning rolled behind a stack of metal crates as a heavy spray of stun ammo bounced off the floor where her feet had just been. She took a second to assess her situation before charging a Ruinga spell. The soldier wasn't forbidden to use magic during exercises, as long as she kept it under control. Hell, she was expected to use it in the field if necessary. It was a hell of a lot easier than manadrives. She felt the familiar flow of the magic, from the center of her chest, where her brand had been, tingling as it ran down her arm to pool in her palm. She counted to three and then cut off the flow, lobbing the destructive orb of magical energy at a heavily populated catwalk as she darted from cover. The catwalk crumbled, taking two others and a dozen dummies with it.

Light sprinted across the debris-littered hangar floor, vaulting over the ruined catwalks with a steady stream of fire peppering the area around her heels. Snapping her fingers, she triggered her Grav-Con, leaping up to one of the lower catwalks to violently dismember a pair of dummies. Gracefully leaping from one ledge to the next, she systematically destroyed every last aggressor before landing heavily in front of the sliding steel door opposite the entrance. Panting, she heaved open the heavy portal, stepping over the threshold and slamming a large, red button. "Time," she declared.

Amodar, back in the control room, whistled appreciatively before fingering his throat mike. "Forty-three targets in five minutes, thirty-two point oh six seconds. Not bad, soldier. Now hit the showers while we clean up your mess." As if to accentuate his point, a chunk of catwalk hit the ground just as he finished talking, with a resounding clang. Lightning smirked up at the finish line camera before strolling off to the showers. _If only Fang could have seen that..._

* * *

"What? Lightning, you're not going by yourself!"

Serah was in Lightning's room with her, watching her pack. The elder Farron had had enough with Fang's constant presence in her mind. She had a weekend. Lightning decided that she wanted to go down to Gran Pulse. To Oerba. She knew she wouldn't find anything. Hell, it might make things worse. But she was sick of doing nothing at all. At least visiting Fang's home town felt proactive. It felt _right._

Serah disagreed.

Lightning had told her little sister she was going to the lowerworld to go camping and hunting. Said she needed to get away for a weekend. Normally, Serah would be all about Lightning taking some time off and enjoying herself. But really? Gran Pulse?

"Lightning, it's not safe! Why can't Snow come with you?"

"Are you kidding?" the elder sister almost laughed. "He's half the reason I'm going."

"I'm being serious, Light. At least take Hope!"

"Nope. I want some time alone," she argued as she tossed a third change of clothes into her pack and tied it off. "Besides, you know I can take care of myself."

"That's not the point!" Serah stomped the floor in frustration. She had to have known that nothing she could say would change her sister's mind, but she was bound and determined to put up a fight. "It's still not safe to go it alone down there!"

Lightning sighed. Serah was stubborn. Any other time, she'd get her way. But this was important. Light couldn't tell her little sister why, though. That was the difficult part. "Serah, don't worry. I'll be fine." She put a comforting hand on her sister's shoulder. "I'll call you every night to check in."

Serah resigned herself to Lightning's adamant will, letting her older sister pull her into a tight hug. She wrapped her arms around her and rested her head on Light's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. I'll be sending Snow to spy on you."

"If he tries it I'll kill him."

Serah smiled and hugged her sister tighter.

* * *

Fang sat on a smooth rock, staring into the fire. Vanille was fast asleep; the forced march over rocky terrain had worn her out, but they were finally on the plains, and less than a two-day hike from Oerba. A **gentle** two-day hike.

The Pulsian sat cross-legged, her spear balanced on her knees. Judging by the moon and the stars, she guessed that she had about an hour and a half until her four-hour watch was over and it was time to wake Vanille up. She yawned and stretched, the spear wobbling dangerously on her left leg. Night watches left one with a lot of time to think, she mused. But what was there to think about? _Lightning._ Of course, there was always Lightning. Her mind drifted back to that night on the Steppe, when she had confessed her feelings to Vanille.

_The Pulsians had fallen asleep, right there in front of the fire, in the comfort of each other's arms. Fang's dreams were chaotic and erotic. The best kind. She was just getting to the good part when she was awoken by an incredibly gentle hand on her shoulder. She knew who it belonged to before she even opened her eyes. "Light?" she whispered._

_The soldier was kneeling in front of her. Fang hurriedly disentangled herself from her young charge, careful not to wake her up. "What's the matter?" she asked._

_Lightning held the datalog up for her, the clock function proudly declaring that it was midnight. "Watch duty. Your turn," she whispered. Always the conversationalist._

"_Oh, right...sorry." Fang rose from her seat, gently picking up Vanille and carrying her to bed._

_Lightning was waiting outside the tent as Fang emerged. All the others were asleep already. At that moment, Fang and Lightning were the only two people in the world. She could feel the awkward silence growing between them, and she was just about to break it when the soldier beat her to the punch. "Well...goodnight..." Lightning stared at Fang, jaw set, with intent eyes. Searching. For what? Maybe nothing. Maybe just wishful thinking. Still..._

"_Yeah. Seeya in the morning." Fang nodded at the younger woman, thankful for the low light and her dark complexion to hide her blush. She stooped to pick up her spear and turned to walk away, but was stopped by a hand on her elbow. "Fang..." The Pulsian's heart skipped a beat. She slowly turned to face Lightning. "Yeah...?"_

_The soldier held the datalog aloft. "You forgot this." The soft hand pulled away as Fang reached up to take the device. "Oh, right. Thanks..." Fang could feel her heart sink. She pocketed the datalog and turned away, moving to the ledge Lightning had kept watch from as she heard the blonde crawl into her tent. The Pulsian sat cross-legged, her spear balanced on her knees, and inhaled deeply, taking in the cool night air._

Why don't you just talk to her, you pansy? What are you afraid of? You're Oerba Yun Fang, for Etro's sake!

Oh, shut up, you.

_Fang clicked off her internal dialogue and let out the breath in an exasperated sigh. "Damn soldier girl."_

* * *

Fang sighed aloud and glanced over at Vanille. Sleeping like a log. _Good._ The older woman set her spear aside and set about unwrapping her sari, letting it fall to the ground. The memories of Lightning filled her thoughts, and she wasn't about to do nothing about it. Especially knowing how heavy a sleeper Vanille was. The woman grinned mischeviously.

Leaning back and stretching her legs out in front of her, Fang sighed as she slipped a hand down the front of her shorts. No foreplay. The woman was one who liked to get straight to the action. By herself, at least. Teasing was no fun when you were just teasing yourself. Fang let the images of Lightning pile on top of each other in her head as she slid a single finger into her slick entrance. She bit her lip, stifling a moan as she penetrated deeper, sinking the finger in all the way and curling it upwards. The finger was quickly joined by a second, and a third, all working in unison to heighten the Oerban's pleasure. The other hand slipped under her top, roughly kneading her breast. Fang could practically feel Lightning stretched out on top of her, sliding her fingers in and out of her sex and squeezing the soft flesh of her breast. Fang's fingers worked double time, twisting and curling inside her until they were working with a mind of their own, intent on just one thing. Getting her off.

Fang pulled her hand from her top and reached down to slide off her shorts, spreading her legs as she did. This prevented her from making more of a mess of the garment than she already had, but more importantly, it allowed her easier access. Pumping the fingers of her right hand harder than ever, she reached back with her left and found her other opening. Teasing it gently, she imagined Lightning smiling up at her. "You're all mine, Fang," she said. "Every bit of you." Fang bit her lip almost hard enough to draw blood as she slipped a single finger into the tight entrance. It was too much. Pushed her over the edge. Fang could almost see Light's triumphant grin as she climaxed. It was the exact same grin she wore after she won an argument or slayed a beastie.

An hour later, Fang was finally starting to reach a state resembling satisfaction. She lay in the long grass, the halter top long since discarded, her bare breasts heaving, grinning from ear to ear. She'd have to stop soon, wake Vanille up. Regrettable. But with a bit of detective work, and a sizable amount of luck? She'd find Light within the week. And they'd have all the time in the world.


	4. Rain

**Alright, guys, longest chapter yet, and probably the most anticipated. Not saying much, seeing as it's only four chapters so far. Anyways, no witty banter here, let's just get to the story. As always, Square-Enix owns all characters and this fic contains M rated content and endgame spoilers. And it may seem like it, but I assure you it isn't over yet.  
**

* * *

The morning sun glinted off the crystalline surface of Lake Bresha as the soldier hiked toward the waystone. Bresha was officially categorized by Corps as "low priority" for cleanup operations, and remains of the Vestige still littered the area. Remains including, but not limited to, the crumbling architecture, what was left of Anima, and, in one case, a cie'th stone. Specifically, a cie'th _way_stone.

Traffic to the lowerworld was still strictly regulated, and though Lightning had the necessary clearance to get herself and Hope to the surface for training, there were limits to where she could and couldn't legally go. In addition, if she used military transports for personal matters, Amodar was likely to have words with her. But this cie'th stone was a convenient loophole. For the time being, Lightning was one of only five people who knew about it. She'd found it while scouting the lake, and had told Serah, Snow, Hope and Sazh. They used it to get to Gran Pulse whenever official travel was impossible or impractical. For instance, right now.

Lightning grunted as she vaulted a wall of rubble, straightening her pack as she approached the glade where the waystone waited, glowing with a faint silvery aura. That it had survived the fall from the Edge was amazing. That it was still active was nothing short of miraculous. Lightning approached the stone slowly, taking a deep breath.

_What do you expect to find down there?_

_I dunno. Nothing, probably. Something would be better._

_She won't be there._

_Don't care._

Her rebellious inner voice hadn't stopped bothering her since she'd arrived at the perimeter of the lake. Lightning didn't care what she turned up (or failed to turn up) in Oerba. The simple act of _going_ there felt like something she had to do. But she couldn't stop the nagging doubts. She could quell them temporarily though, which she did as she reached a hand out to the cie'th stone.

_Next stop, Oerba._

One second, the soldier stood silhouetted in the glow of the waystone. The next second, there was a brilliant flash of light, and the second after that, the glade was empty again.

* * *

A glint of light from the vicinity of the town square caught Fang's eye for a moment, but she quickly dismissed it as imagination, or a reflection from the crystal ash. Oerba had come into sight late yesterday afternoon, and the village would have two fresh inhabitants by the end of the day today. In her downtime, or when it was visible while hiking, Fang had been watching the village like a hawk for any sign of activity. Anything on a small scale would be tough to notice, but a party of more than a few would be easy to pick out.

Fang sighed, twirling her spear absently as she plodded along. The closer they got, the more hesitant the huntress felt. _What if there's nothing there? What then? _She knew what would happen then. The Pulsians had discussed it at length and decided waiting in the village was the best course of action. They could see Cocoon clearly, and it was as likely a place as any for PSICOM soldiers – or old friends – to show up. It was also home. A defensible location with suitable living space was a damn sight better than a tent in a field. But none of these thoughts put Fang's mind any more at ease. She was beginning to feel that nothing short of seeing Lightning in the flesh would do it for her at this point.

Fang was snapped out of her reverie by the sound of a cheery voice emanating from the trail behind her. "See anything?" Vanille asked.

Fang sighed again. "Thought I did, for a second. But no."

"Don't worry. We'll find something when we get there, I know it!"

The older woman glanced back over her shoulder at Vanille. The redhead had her head tilted to one side, beaming back at her. A study in cuteness. Not to mention optimism. _I wish I could be as sure as you. _Fang smirked at the girl before turning back to the path. "Well, we'll find out soon."The twosome was fast approaching the fields of crystalline ash, and it would only be a few hours at most before they reached Oerba. They'd hook up with Bhakti, set up shop in the orphanage, and then...then they'd wait. For however long it took. As if they had any other options.

* * *

Lightning materialized on the sidewalk in Oerba, instinctively drawing her weapon. The village had been cleared of cie'th, but the monsters seemed to instinctively seek out population centers. Even long-dead ones like Oerba. The soldier had learned never to be too careful, especially when it came to exploring the lowerworld, ages ago. She rested Omega on her shoulder and set out towards the orphanage.

Lightning's mind wandered as she walked down the crumbling sidewalk. She called up memories of their first day in Oerba.

"_Bhakti!" The sad little robot lay on its side, motionless._

_They had just arrived at the orphanage. Snow was guarding the door. Sazh, Hope and Vanille were tending to the robot. By the look of him, he'd need a few spare parts before he'd function as anything more than a paperweight or a doorstop. And Fang and Lightning were leaning against the wall on the other side of the room, watching._

"_She loves that little bugger," Fang commented._

"_Hm?"_

"_Vanille. She's had that robot for ages. I'm surprised he's still in one piece."_

"_Oh, right." Lightning sighed and shifted uncomfortably. What was it about Fang that always made her uneasy? The woman invoked a fight-or-flight response with her very presence. To say she was an intimidating figure was an understatement, especially with that lance. But that wasn't it. It was something more...personal._

_Fang nudged Lightning's elbow, causing her to jump almost imperceptibly. Almost. "What about you? You ever have a pet?" Fang smirked._

"_I don't think a robot counts as a pet."_

"_Just answer the question."_

"_Why's it matter?"_

_Fang glanced over at the soldier and sighed. "I think you'd be good at taking care of one? I dunno. Is it so hard to believe I'm just curious?"_

"_Yeah, kind of." Lightning pushed herself away from the wall and sat down at the dining room table, pretending to inspect her weapon to hide the blush tinting her cheeks. Fang shot her an exasperated look before going outside to check on Snow._

"_Yo, Lightning. We got any scrap metal?" Lightning glanced over at Sazh, who was in turn inspecting the robot. She could see the gears turning in the pilot's afro as he mentally checked off items he would need to repair the little guy. "Not as far as I know," she replied._

"_Alright...c'mon guys. If we wanna fix your buddy, we're gonna need some parts." The older man stood up and stretched with a groan, heading for the door with Vanille and Hope in tow._

"_Stay close! Don't get yourselves killed," Lightning quipped as they filed out. The soldier sighed, setting her Enkindler down on the table. Something caught her eye as she leaned forward in the seat. An old photo, in a frame. Was that...? She plucked it from the table and blew the dust from it. Sure enough, Fang and Vanille were framed behind the glass. _How old is this picture? _She opened up the frame and slid the photo out, flipping it over. No date, no comments, no anything. Lightning flipped back to the front and studied the image. Vanille was leaning in, toward the camera, smiling at it. Of course. Fang was standing behind her, and a little to her right, staring off to the side. Was she looking at something? Or just striking a pose? Either way, the picture flattered her. The sun shone on the profile of her face, lighting her smirk up. It was a smirk that said, "Oh, sorry, did you want a picture? Don't expect me to help you out there." It was the same kind of smirk Lightning had gotten from the Pulsian several times before. And it was a smirk that the soldier absolutely loved and hated at the same time._

_Hearing heavy footsteps come up the stairs, Light hurriedly tossed the empty frame on the counter, face-down, and stowed the photo in her thigh pack. Her heart hammered as Snow trundled into the room, followed by Fang. The blonde dropped into a seat across from Lightning with a grunt, while the brunette leaned her lance against the wall and sat next to Light. The soldier could feel her heart desperately trying to beat its way out of her chest. "So," Snow piped up, "Sleeping arrangements? I don't think we can go too much further tonight."_

"_I figured as soon as the others get back we'll clear the area and bed down here," replied Fang. "Girls can sleep upstairs, guys down. You amenable to that?" She gave Lightning another nudge. If Fang touched her again, the soldier's heart was bound to explode. She was close enough to hear Fang breathing. Why was it so damn _hot _in here?_

"_Light? Yoo-hoo? Ya' with us?" Fang waved her hand in front of Lightning's face. Maker, that was a pretty hand. How was it not completely destroyed with calluses by gripping that spear all day? Lightning fought with every inch of her being not to let her gaze wander down that arm to Fang's chest. "Y-yeah, that sounds fine. Perfect."_

_Snow chimed in, "Hey, sis, maybe you wanna go lie down? You look a little flushed..." No shit, hero. Normally, she'd beat him up and down the village for calling her his sister, but he'd given her an excuse. This might be her best, or only, opportunity to get out of here. "Yeah," she said, jumping up and nearly knocking over the table. "Yeah, I think I will." Fang swung her legs out from under the table to allow Lightning to slide by. The soldier glanced back over her shoulder as she wandered to bed and groaned inwardly. _That damned smirk.

"_That was weird...I wonder what got into her?"_

"_Yeah," Fang replied, eyeing the empty picture frame. "I wonder..."_

* * *

Lightning dug into her pouch and pulled out the folded photo. She never got tired of looking at that smirk. This was the only physical remnant of Fang she had, and there was no way in hell she'd let go of it. _Maybe that's why I want to come here so bad. Memorabilia._ She sighed at the faded surface of the picture and folded it back up as she reached the stairs of the orphanage. Climbed them one by one. Turned into the bedroom. When they had stayed here last, the l'cie had disassembled the three sets of bunk beds. Nobody felt safe with the centuries-old husks hanging over their heads. The boys had hauled the top bunks downstairs. Well, Snow did most of that. Lightning absently ran her hand over one of the sheets. _This was my bed. _She continued to the far end of the room. _And this was hers..._

She dropped her pack on the floor, followed by her holster and hip pouch, then plopped onto the bed. Lightning buried her face in the pillow, inhaling deeply. It had been half a year since anyone had slept in this thing...so she must just be imagining that it still carried Fang's scent. She didn't mind. The soldier rolled over onto her back, staring up at the ceiling. _I should take a look around. See if there's anything useful here._

Speaking of useful, where was Bhakti? The little guy should have greeted her at the door. "Bhakti?" she called as she sat up. "Bhakti? Are you here?" Lightning got up and walked into the kitchen, hearing a faint thumping noise. She'd left Omega in the bedroom, but it didn't sound like a threat. Dropping to one knee, she took a look under the table. "There you are!"

The little robot had fallen over under the table after breaking an axle. He lay on his side, persistently thumping away at the floor in a futile attempt to arise. During Fang and Vanille's first stasis, the robot had at least been inactive. But now? How long had he been laying there, desperately trying to stand? For that matter, how did he feel about being left here alone for half a year? Lightning wasn't sure if robots had feelings, but she sure felt bad enough for the both of them.

"Here, let me help you." She picked the robot up and stood him upright before inspecting the missing wheel. Bhakti's 'eyes' glowed a brilliant blue tint as he scanned the wheel, emitting a swift series of agitated clicks and whirrs. "Yeah, I know, buddy. You just need a fresh axle. I can probably patch you up as soon as I find a spare, okay?" Lightning could have sworn the sharp whirr that followed sounded happy. Even ecstatic.

_You're full of it. Robots don't get happy._

_Maybe Pulsian ones do. You don't know. He's been alone for ages._

_Maybe Fang was right. Maybe you are great with pets_

_If I ever hear you say "Fang was right" again, I'll pop you._

Lightning smirked as she walked back into the bedroom to grab her Omni-Kit. _It's good to be home._

* * *

"We're finally back."

"It's only been six months. We were gone for several hundred years last time, if I remember correctly."

Fang gave Vanille a playful shove. "Don't ruin my moment." The girl giggled back. It didn't matter how long they stayed away or how decrepit the town was. It would always be home.

The Pulsians arrived in Oerba around dinner time, stopping on the outskirts of town to eat. Fang chewed thoughtfully, remembering the last time they had been here. When she realized that Lightning may, in fact, have feelings for her as well. It was a happy memory. She gulped the meat down, smiling.

"_...and she was beet red! She never blushes!"_

_Fang was on watch duty. Vanille, unable to sleep, had come out to talk to her. They were sitting on the roof of the abandoned orphanage. Fang had spent the last few minutes explaining the day's events that Vanille had missed while she was out digging up parts._

"_Well, that's good, right! She likes you!"_

_Fang shook her head slowly. "I dunno. Maybe. But we've been over this before, I can't bloody well do anything about it."_

_Vanille sighed, pulling her knees to her chest and hugging them. "You never know until you try, Fang."_

"_Well...we'll see."_

_The pair was silent for a moment, staring at the sky. It was a cloudy night, with a lone star peeking through here and there. "Looks like rain," Vanille commented._

"_Smells like it, too." Fang stood up and stretched, offering her hand to help Vanille up. "C'mon. We should get inside before it hits. You probably need to get to bed, anyway." They dropped from the roof, climbing the stairs to the bedroom together. Careful not to wake Lightning, Vanille tiptoed into the room and slipped into bed. "Goodnight," she whispered. Fang nodded back to her as she rolled over to face the wall._

_Fang didn't leave for another ten minutes. As the rain began to pound on the metal roof, she silently watched Lightning sleep in the dim light. When she was awake, Lightning was always tense. Always ready to attack. But in sleep, she looked almost peaceful. She was on her side, facing the doorway, her hair spilling over the pillow next to her head. The covers were only pulled to her waist, and her breast rose and fell gently with each breath. She looked so relaxed when she slept. Lightning was beautiful when she was awake, but she was an entirely different kind of beautiful at the moment. Like fire and ice._

_Fang sighed and turned to the kitchen, sitting at the table. She looked back at the bedroom every now and then, but mostly she just sat and thought. _She really does have feelings for me, doesn't she? _Fang couldn't imagine Lightning with feelings for anyone, let alone her. She propped her chin on her hands, resting her elbows on the table. Snow found her still there, looking at the door, half an hour after his shift was supposed to start._

* * *

"Smells like rain," Fang commented as they packed up.

"Maybe," Vanille agreed, looking up at the sky. "If it is gonna rain, we should get to the orphanage as soon as possible."

"Too bloody right. C'mon." Fang tied off her pack and slung it over her shoulder, brushing a bit of crystal dust off of it. Vanille followed suit, bouncing along happily after the brunette. They followed the familiar path through town. Oerba was a compact town with only one road, which wound all the way through. Down the side of the hill, from the top all the way to the bridge at the bottom.

The Pulsians quickened their pace as they began to hear thunder in the distance. Rain on Gran Pulse is wildly unpredictable, and a clear sky can turn to a shower and then a thunderstorm in less than a minute. Before long the storm was on them, leaving them huddled under the awning of a ruined house.

"Well," commented Fang, "This sucks. Wouldn't you say?" Vanille nodded assent. "We probably should still try to get to the orphanage, though...wanna make a break for it?" Again, Vanille nodded silently. The girl wasn't fond of storms. It was probably the thunder that got to her, but she didn't like to talk about it. Fang could respect that.

They waited for a lull in the icy sheet of rain and sprinted from cover to cover, hands over their heads, slowly making their way up the street until they came sliding to a stop under the shelter of the orphanage, gasping for air. Vanille dropped her pack and shuffled over to one of the beds before starting to strip off her wet clothing. Fang did the same, unwrapping her sari and wringing out the strips of cloth. She hung the damp fabric over a rafter before dropping onto the bed next to Vanille. "Whew...we made it."

"Yup," Vanille replied, preoccupied with undoing the complicated series of beaded strings that held her top in place. Finally managing to extricate herself from the garment, the girl rose from the bed in her underwear, stretching. A sound from upstairs caught both their attention; a low whine. Most likely the robot. "I'm gonna go check on Bhakti!" Vanille announced, cheerful now that they were safe from the storm.

"You have fun with that. I'm gonna take a nap," Fang called after the redhead as she bounced up the stairs.

* * *

"Aaaand, there." Lightning stepped back to admire her work. She had found a metal rod that would suffice as a substitute axle, at least until she could get a new one. Bhakti rolled back and forth across the floor, chirping happily, as the soldier packed her tools back into the Omni-Kit. "Calm down," she called from the bedroom. "You're going to blow a fuse." She had only been here for a few hours, and she was already talking to the thing like it was a person.

The soldier was a completely different person when no one was around to see her. She ran her hands through her hair, watching Bhakti zip about as she heard thunder in the distance. _Well, so much for searching the town today. _She sighed and began rummaging in her pack for sleepwear. Stripping off her clothing, Lightning quickly replaced the tight shorts she wore under her skirt with a looser, more comfortable pair. The jacket and zippered turtleneck were discarded, replaced with a baggy t-shirt, and the boots were dropped unceremoniously next to the bed, along with her various accessories and accoutrements. Anyone who saw the soldier now would find her almost unrecognizable, excepting Serah.

Lightning finished changing just as the rain hit, a violent staccato pounding on the metal roof. She dug a bag of jerky out of her pack, along with the picture of Fang and Vanille and her gunblade. Dropping the weapon by the door for easy access, she plopped down at the table, chewing a strip of the tough meat and looking at the picture. Lightning didn't take time off very often, and she was finding that she had no idea what to do with herself. But sitting here, staring at this picture, alone but for Bhakti, who was currently busying himself with some matter of great importance in the bedroom, she found she was quickly coming up with an idea for something to do **to **herself.

Grinning mischievously, she slipped a hand down the front of the loose shorts and began to tease herself. She quickly abandoned the picture; it was nowhere near as good as her imagination. Leaning back in her seat, she imagined Fang eating her under the table, Fang bending her over the table, Fang using her in every way, many involving the table. A flush rose to Light's cheeks as she slid two fingers inside herself, her loud moans drowned in the sound of the rain beating on the roof.

Her fingers worked with a mind of their own, pulling her down into a deep pool of lust as images of Fang in every conceivable position danced through her head. She could practically feel the Pulsian's breath on the back of her neck as her fingers worked her mercilessly. Light ground her hips into her hand, biting her lip and whimpering as she thrust against her palm.

Lightning's breath quickened as she slid further down in her seat, writhing in pleasure. For the first time in Eden only knew how long, she could take as long as she wanted and be as loud as she wanted. She gasped, moaned, whimpered, and imitated animals she hadn't even known existed. She was lost in the pleasure, working herself to the breaking point and then backing off slowly, only to attack again within a few seconds. She was so preoccupied that she didn't notice a certain redhead bounce happily into the room or hear her shocked gasp.

* * *

Vanille pressed herself against the wall on the staircase, heart hammering. Was that who she thought it was? Doing what she looked like she was doing? It couldn't have been. She peeked back around the corner. _It was!_ As she wondered what to do, two things happened in rapid succession. The first was Fang calling from downstairs, "Vanille? Everything alright up there?" The second was that all noise from Lightning stopped. _Shit! She heard her!_ Vanille hesitated for a few seconds, not sure how to handle such a bizarre situation. She waited just a few seconds too long though, and she was suddenly dragged into the room and pinned to the wall with a shriek.

It took Lightning all of seven seconds to process exactly who she was holding. Coincidentally, it took Fang almost the exact same amount of time to dash up the stairs and burst into the room, lance ready, poised to kill whatever had elicited the shriek from her adopted sister. "Vanille!"

"Vanille?" Lightning gasped, dropping her.

"Fang!" Vanille shouted!

"Fang!" Lightning gaped incredulously.

"Lightning!" Fang nearly dropped her spear.

Bhakti chirped excitedly.

Lightning took a few steps away from Vanille, head spinning. _They're awake. They're HERE. They're...they're in their underwear. _It was too much to process all at once. It was only made worse when Vanille jumped at her, wrapping her in a bone-crushing hug and apparently not caring that she had just seen her masturbating. Light struggled in vain to extricate herself from the embrace, only succeeding when Fang regained her senses somewhat and pulled the younger Pulsian off of her. Vanille retreated to the corner, bouncing happily, leaving Lightning and Fang staring at each other in similar states of near-shock.

"Lightning..." Fang started, but the words caught in her throat. She tried again. "I can't..." No good.

"You're awake." Lightning observed. Her eyes were the size of saucers. Fang bit her lip, hard. Unable to find the words she wanted, the brunette resorted to the Oerba Dia Vanille method of problem resolution. Taking a quick step forward, Fang wrapped the soldier in a tender hug. No aggression, no lust. Her left hand rested on the small of Lightning's back, her right nestled itself in her hair. Fang inhaled deeply, drawing in the scent of Lightning's hair, of her skin, and the faint scent of sex that she wouldn't identify until later but that didn't matter at the moment. She was here, and Light was here, and everything was right.

Lightning, for her part, shocked Vanille to no end by not only accepting the embrace, but returning it. As Fang pulled her close, Lightning wrapped both arms around the Pulsian's back, holding her tightly, and rested her head on Fang's shoulder. The older woman smelled of fresh rain. Unsurprising. Small droplets of rainwater still stood out on her tanned skin. Lightning nuzzled her gently. At that moment, each of them knew what the other was thinking. They knew that this was real, that they didn't have to worry about being alone anymore. They were finally together.

Vanille watched the hug, watched the women exchange a hundred thoughts and a thousand feelings without saying a single word, and grinned from ear to ear.


	5. I Want You to Want Me

**So, I haz a kweschun. Seeing as this story's almost over (If this chapter doesn't finish it off, there will likely only be one or two more), what would you guys like to see next? I have ideas for Neapolitan and Farroncest fics, as well as a few crossover fics. One of which is all Final Fantasy related, the other of which is...something completely different. Anyway, I've been kicking around all these ideas and I can't decide on one, so let me know in a message or in your review what you'd like to see.**

**Now, onto the story. Oh, boy. I know I said that the last chapter was the one most of you were waiting for (myself included). Well, this is the chapter the _rest _of you were waiting for. I've never written smut before (I'm pretty sure the paragraph-and-a-half masturbation scenes in the last few chapters don't count) so let me know how I did. If you haven't figured it yet, this chapter more than any is rated M for mature, so banish any small children or easily offended adults. And Square-Enix owns these characters, as always. Let's go!**

* * *

Lightning sat on the edge of the bed, heart hammering. She could practically hear it over the rain, which had diminished somewhat but was still going strong.

Fang had gone downstairs to check on Vanille. Every time the huntress was out of her sight for more than a minute, Lightning's brain tried to convince her that she was dreaming. That none of this could be real. She let out a happy sigh as Fang slunk up the stairs and slipped into the bedroom, smiling.

"Hey, there. How ya' feeling?" Fang dropped onto the bed next to the soldier, slipping an arm around her waist. "Better...I still can't believe you're really awake, though." Lightning rested her head on Fang's shoulder.

"Well, I am. Vanille just fell asleep." Fang grinned mischievously, kissing Lightning on the cheek before nibbling her ear gently, eliciting a small moan from the soldier. "Fang..."

"Shh..." Fang pressed a finger to Lightning's lips before pushing her onto her back. She rolled over onto the blonde, straddling her. Already she could smell the heady aroma of the soldier's arousal, bringing out the animal in her. Flashing her canines, Fang leaned in and dug her teeth into Light's neck, drawing a sharp gasp of pain mingled with pleasure.

Lightning had never been with anyone since her parents died. She had been too emotionally distant towards everyone for meaningful relationships. And she had _never _been past second base. Or had a lover as rough as Fang. It was a night of firsts.

Fang pulled away from Lightning's throat and smiled seductively down at her, slowly removing her halter top. She could feel the soldier's breath catch as Fang revealed herself to her. Free of the restricting garment, Fang leaned back in, planting a much gentler kiss on Lightning's neck. The blonde buried her fingers in Fang's hair as she traced a line of kisses down her collarbone, pausing only for a few seconds to violently rip off the obstructing t-shirt. Shivering at the feeling of the cool air on her bare breasts, Lightning moaned aloud as Fang's kisses trailed lower and lower until, with a sharp cry, the soldier felt a warm, sucking sensation at her right breast.

Moaning around the aroused nub of Light's nipple, Fang reached up to tease its partner. As her teeth and tongue expertly worked the right breast, her hand and fingers worked the left, rolling and pinching the nipple, eliciting a loud gasp with every sharp tweak she gave it. Lightning clenched her hands tightly in Fang's raven tresses as she threw her head back into the mattress, her eyes rolling back into her head.

Lightning groaned almost loud enough to wake Vanille as Fang finally pulled away from her chest. The blonde started to raise herself up on her elbows but was stopped short as Fang pushed her back violently. "Ah ah ah, soldier girl. You're not getting off that easy." Lightning moaned softly as the huntress continued her tour of the soldier's body, tasting every bit of her as she kissed and licked her, slowly winding her way down her stomach.

Lightning arched her body as Fang gripped her waistband in her teeth, allowing the huntress to pull the shorts down to Light's ankles in one fluid motion. Finally, the soldier was laid completely bare, a buffet for the senses, all there for Fang to enjoy. And enjoy her she would.

The huntress leaned in, inhaling deeply between Lightning's legs, savoring the musky scent of her sex. She exhaled in a long, hot breath that washed over the soldier's labia and sent electric shocks up her spine to numb the pleasure center of her brain. In that instant, Lightning's mind went almost completely blank, intent on nothing but her exponentially expanding arousal. She tried to buck her hips up toward Fang's face but the huntress gripped her knees, pinning her legs to the bed. Lightning whimpered uncontrollably as the Pulsian teased her mercilessly, kissing her inner thighs, coming oh-so-close to her most sensitive place before drawing her lips away. "F-fang, p-p-please..."

The huntress stopped short, staring up at Lightning with an evil grin on her face. She dug her nails into Light's thigh. "What was that, love?"

"P-please, Fang..." The hand moved closer to her folds.

"Please what? I wanna hear you say it." So close now!

"Please Fang, I w-want you...inside m-me...oh, M-maker...t-take me!"

_Good enough for me._ Fang chuckled as she finally claimed her prize, stabbing two fingers into Light's dripping sex. _Etro, but she's tight! You a virgin, soldier girl? _She suppressed a laugh. _No way._

As Fang plunged her fingers into her, Lightning arched her back reflexively, jolts of electricity shooting rapidly up her spine and numbing her extremities. _Fuck! _She bucked her hips against the invading presence, no longer in control of her own body as Fang worked her mercilessly. The huntress leaned in, burying her nose in Lightning's pinkish curls as she licked and sucked at the engorged nub of pleasure. Lightning squirmed, bucked, tried to flail her legs but Fang wouldn't let her. She gripped the sheets, pulling them into tight balls in her fists as she tried not to scream. Fang was steadily pushing her toward a steep precipice, one they both knew it was only a matter of time until she was thrown off of.

Fang let go of Lightning's thigh, allowing the soldier to wrap her legs around the huntress's head with skull-crushing force, but more importantly, freeing a hand. Fang grinned into Light's sex as she remember masturbating on the plains the other night, and how she had pushed herself over the edge. She continued her ministrations, waiting until the soldier was bucking her hips hard enough to rattle the bed frame, moaning the Pulsian's name with every breath, and then she did it. Reaching up with her free hand, she violently stabbed a single finger into Light's lower entrance.

Lightning's eyes shot open. _HOLY SHIT. _She grabbed a pillow, burying her face and screaming into it as Fang brought her to the messy climax she had been denied for the past week. Her whole body seized up, back arched violently. Fang's entire world went dark and silent as Lightning clamped her thighs around her head. She could only hear Light's scream, reverberating through her body. Her face was drenched, the scent and taste of Lightning's sex overwhelming her.

The scream died down gradually. Lightning stayed locked in position almost long enough to drown the huntress, twitching with the occasional aftershock. Finally, after what felt like to longest eternity of her life that was somehow still too short, Lightning collapsed on the bed, completely spent. Fang pulled her head from between Light's thighs, licking her lips. "How was it, soldier girl?"

Light's only response was a breathless moan. Her breast heaved, her skin glistened with a sheen of sweat. Fang smirked down at her, climbing into bed and whispering into Lightning's ear, "Don't pass out just yet. You still need to return the favor."

* * *

Serah glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall. One in the morning. _Dammit, Claire. _With a sigh, she pulled her head from Snow's lap and sat up on the couch. "What's the matter, baby?" the massive blonde asked as she trotted into the kitchen.

"Lightning, of course," she replied, walking back into the living room with phone in hand. She sat back down, smiling up at her husband as he slipped an arm around her waist gently. "She was supposed to call and check in with me."

"Damn...you think she's okay?"

"I'd wager she is. She probably just forgot." Serah leaned in closer to Snow, resting her head against him as she held the receiver to her face. It rang eight times before the line opened. _"Hello?" _Lightning's voice sounded annoyed as usual, but also flushed and breathless. And anxious. Serah bit her lip. "Sis? It's me. Are you alright?"

"_I'm fine. Why?"_

"You forgot to call. And you sound like you've been running, or fighting. Are you sure you're okay?"

"_Yeah, Serah. I'm absolutely fine." _She sounded like she was getting her breath back. _"What about you?"_

"No troubles. Snow's here, he's keeping an eye on me."

"_Oh, thanks, that makes me feel much better." _Snow grinned down at her. She rolled her eyes at him. "C'mon, Light. It's better than me being here by myself."

"_Barely. Don't do anything uncouth while I'm gone."_ Serah glanced up at the blonde. "No promises." She could almost hear Lightning gripping the phone tighter. _"Whatever. Just keep it in your room."_

"Sure thing, sis. I love you." Lightning's breath caught suddenly. Something was definitely going on, but if she said she was alright...

"_I love you too...now get to bed."_ The line went dead with a pronounced click. Serah sighed and set the phone down before rolling over onto Snow's lap, straddling him, kissing him deeply. "Mmph...!" He pulled away, smiling up at her. "Frisky tonight?"

Serah grinned wickedly down at him. "Yeah, a bit," she replied before diving back in for another crushing kiss. _Like hell we're keeping it in my room._

* * *

Lightning squirmed out from under Fang, slamming the phone shut and tossing it to the floor. "Fang, what the hell!" The huntress had been playfully teasing her the entire time she'd been on the phone with Serah. Lightning's complaints were quickly muffled by a deep kiss from the Pulsian, the kind that literally left you breathless, seeming to suck every bit of air out of your lungs.

Fang broke the kiss and straddled her prey, leering at her with a feral grin. "C'mon, soldier girl. My turn." She rolled over, pulling Light on top of her.

Lightning slid off of Fang, reaching down to the waistband of her underwear. Slipping a hand into either side, she pushed the garment off, revealing the extent of Fang's arousal. The huntress was absolutely soaked; that she had managed to pleasure Light for so long without even touching herself, in this state, was nothing short of spectacular. Lightning leaned in, inhaling deeply, before looking up at the Pulsian worriedly. "I don't know, Fang. I've never done this before..."

"Don't worry about it. Go with your instincts." Fang spread her legs invitingly, exuding an aura of total relaxation that helped Lightning forget the fact that she was nervous as hell. The soldier leaned in slowly, planting soft kisses on Fang's inner thighs. The huntress purred softly as Lightning took a thigh in each hand, holding her legs apart as she dove in. Fang threw her head back, suppressing a moan. _First time my arse! You're a bloody prodigy! _She bucked her hips against the invading presence of Lightning's tongue as the soldier moaned into her sex, the organ digging deep inside and swirling maddeningly.

Lightning gasped as she felt strong hands grip the back of her head, pushing her harder into the musky scents and flavors of Fang's arousal. Her nails dug into Fang's thighs as she felt the Pulsian convulsing, balling up fistfuls of her hair and bucking against her face. The soldier removed her tongue, attacking the tiny nub of her clit with teeth and lips, sucking and nibbling gently. She was caught off guard yet again as Fang gripped her with her thighs, rolling them both over and sitting on Lightning's face.

Fang shuddered, desperately trying to hold back her climax as she groped herself and ground her hips against Lightning. The blonde ate her violently, lips and teeth and tongue working in tandem to push Fang over the edge. Finally, with a shudder and a low moan that practically melted the soldier, Fang succumbed to the pleasure. Still gripping Lightning's head, she pushed the blonde against her face as she came.

They held that position for a good twenty seconds, Fang doubled over, Lightning lapping at her sex greedily. Spent, Fang slowly slid off of Lightning, finally allowing the soldier a moment to breathe. The two lay there, panting, for several minutes before the huntress lay down next to Light, kissing her deeply, savoring the taste of the soldier's mouth mingled with her own exotic flavor. This time, Lightning broke the kiss, resting her sweat-slicked forehead against Fang's.

"Was that really your first time?" the Pulsian whispered huskily, without opening her eyes.

"Mmhmm," Light replied, drawing Fang in closer.

"Not bad, soldier girl." Fang pulled Light against her, reveling in the feel of the body pressed against her.

Downstairs, Vanille hesitantly peeled the pillow from her ears. _You two finally done up there?_ She'd find them there in the morning, caked in dried sweat, sleeping peacefully, cradled in each other's arms, naked as the day they were born. And it would be an embarrassing experience for everyone involved.


	6. Always

**Rated M for mature. All characters property of Square-Enix. It isn't over.  
**

**_

* * *

_**

**_"All human wisdom is summed up in two words - wait and hope."_**

_**~Alexandre Dumas, **_**_père~_**

* * *

"Wake up, lovebirds!"

_Just ten more minutes._

"C'mon!" A soft hand gently pushed against her shoulder.

_Let me sleep, dammit._

"I made breakfast!" She smelt bacon frying. She sighed deeply, pulling Fang closer to her. Stars suddenly shot across her vision as Vanille rapped her sharply upside the head with a spatula.

_Girl, I have half a mind to choke you out._

Lightning groggily rose from bed, rubbing the back of her head and wincing. She pulled the covers around herself to conceal her nudity as she assessed her situation. Vanille stood over the bed, spatula in hand, with a fleck of batter on her cheek Fang was sitting on the edge of the bed, already half-dressed, sniggering into her palm. Lightning tossed the pillow at her head.

* * *

"So where the hell did you get pancake batter?" Fang asked through a mouthful of food. Vanille stuffed a large bite into her mouth, gulping it down before answering. "I liberated it from Light's pack."

"Thanks for that, by the way." Lightning glared daggers at the younger Pulsian. Fang didn't seem to notice. "And the stove?"

"Bhakti helped me fix it!" She smiled down at the little robot who was busy pulling a series of figure eights in the middle of the floor. Crazy little thing.

Lightning chewed slowly, pensively, still fixated on the events of last night. She wouldn't believe it if she hadn't woken up in the same bed as Fang. That and the film of dried sweat that still stood out on her skin. "Ask if he can fix the shower. I feel disgusting."

"I bet you do, after last night!" Vanille smirked at her. Fang slapped her lightly on the back of the head. "Be nice, now." The huntress wolfed down the last of her bacon, walking the plate to the sink before turning to the little robot. "C'mon, you. Let's go see if we can get our princess the shower she so richly deserves."

"Seriously, though," Vanille leaned in as Fang left the room. "How was it?"

How was it? She couldn't be honest with the redhead. _I dunno, I don't really have a frame of reference, but it was the greatest feeling of my life. _Screw that. "Good, I guess." The soldier shrugged, sipping her tea. Vanille rolled her eyes at her. "You guess! C'mon, that's not a straight answer!"

Lightning sighed, about to open her mouth to reprimand the girl when Fang's voice wafted in, interrupting her. "Hey, guys...you might wanna take a look at this..."

* * *

Cie'th retain very few memories of humanity. More like instincts. Driven by an intense hatred of people in general, they actively seek out humans. Unfortunately, one of the things they remember is how to find them. As Fang stared out the window, she counted over twenty shambling, crystalline monstrosities and a full-fledged swarm of the tiny, winged ones. In the distance, she could make out a variety of beast she had never even seen before. The cie'th looked like an amalgamation of ten or more humanoid ones, shambling toward the orphanage on legs the size of tree trunks.

Fang didn't say a word as Lightning and Vanille burst into the bathroom. She simply pointed out the window. "Fuck..." Lightning muttered under her breath. She whipped around, running to the door to grab her gunblade with Fang hot on her heels. "Can't we just hide?" Vanille asked as the three of them thundered down the stairs. "No good," Fang shot back over her shoulder. "They already know we're here, and we're not waiting for them to break down our door."

Even as they spread into the town square, Lightning began charging various spells to hasten their movements, strengthen their blows and protect them from damage. Fang dropped into a defensive posture and began taunting the monstrosities. "C'mon then, ya bastards! Let's go!" Vanille drew her rod, preparing a barrage of elemental death.

The shambling cie'th bore down on them faster than expected. "Vanille, handle the fliers!" Lightning shouted as she dove head first into the onslaught. The winged monsters fell like flies as Vanille fried them several at a time with wide-area spells. In their absence, Lightning was free to unleash a series of acrobatic maneuvers, gracefully flipping through the ranks of the bipedal beasts and slashing at them left and right. Fang dove in alongside her, their movements becoming a whirling dance of bladed carnage. _Just like old times. _It was amazing how well they fought together after so long.

Lightning spun, delivering a vicious backhand blow that sliced a cie'th deep, staggering it and giving her a bit of breathing room. "Where did all these things come from!"

Fang pounced on the staggered cie'th, bowling it over and planting her spear into its chest. "The hell if I know!" she replied as she tore the weapon free with a crunch. Both warriors flipped away from the fresh kill as Vanille incinerated a small pack of the flying cie'th that had been congregating on their position.

One by one, aided by Vanille's magic, Fang and Lightning carved a swath through the mob. _We can handle this... _Lightning thought. Until the big one showed up. The monstrous cie'th groaned as it clambered up the hill. Fang dropped the last of the smaller cie'th, immediately hopping back as the three tightened their formation. She raised her spear, prepared to fend off any blows as she felt Lightning's buffs flow into her. "Vanille..." the soldier muttered.

"On it!" Vanille replied as she shot several debuffs at the monstrosity in rapid succession. "Damn...damn...DAMN! I can't get anything to stick!"

Fang bit her lip, gripping the shaft of her spear tightly. "Lightning...it's getting closer..."

"I know, dammit!" Lightning shifted Omega, firing several rounds at the beast that clanged off of it's crystalline carapace. "Hell!"

Lightning and Vanille rolled to either side as the cie'th raised a massive fist, bringing it down in a crushing overhead blow. The attack hit Fang's guard full force, throwing her back several dozen feet. "Ugh...frisky, eh?" She grinned at it, twirling her lance once before charging.

Vanille took a medic role, launching healing spells at Lightning and Fang as the warriors began throwing elemental strikes at the beast's legs, slowly chipping away at the crystal armor. "I can't keep this up much longer, soldier girl..." Fang grunted as she deflected another blow.

"Alright, then. Let's take him down!" Lightning leapt through the air, becoming a one-woman army as she flipped over and around the monster, tearing chunks out of its armor. Fang was transfixed, eyes following the soldier as she gracefully arched through the air, finishing the maneuver by planting her blade firmly in the beast's chest and ripping it up and out, staggering the giant cie'th and dropping to to its knees.

"Alright!" Vanille shouted as Lightning landed several feet from the kneeling giant, panting. "Fang!"

"I got it!" Fang started to bum rush the beast but was caught short, forced to duck a sidearm blow that nearly took her head off. She heard a thick crunch behind her as the misplaced blow landed. "Nice aim, ugly!" She twirled her lance and leapt into the air, spinning gracefully as she brought the lance down, channeling magic into it to force an explosion from the head of the weapon as it struck home. "Take that, you son of a bitch!"

Pulling the lance free with a sickening squelch, Fang jumped back. The cie'th reeled slowly and dropped, hitting the ground with a resounding thud. The fight was finally over, all the cie'th eliminated. "Ha! See that, guys? What a pushover!"

"Fang..." Vanille's voice was deathly quiet. Little more than a whisper. The huntress felt her stomach clench, as if she had been hit in the gut. She turned around slowly, eyes focusing on Vanille, bent low over the prone form of the soldier.

* * *

Fang rushed the monster, her sari fluttering as she slid under a crushing blow. One that wasn't actually aimed at her. Lightning saw the arm moving in slow motion, reaching out to splatter the younger Pulsian. Adrenaline flooded her legs, pushing her across the short distance between her and Vanille before her brain could catch up to her. The redhead yelped as Lightning rammed into her, pushing her out of the way of the deathblow just in the nick of time. For Vanille, anyway.

Lightning felt like a train had hit her in the ribs. She spun through the air, flipping end over end until she hit something solid, pushing all the air from her lungs as the world went black.

* * *

The soldier coughed, a violent hacking that shook her frame and spattered flecks of blood on Fang's sari. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking back tears as her battered body screamed at her.

Vanille was using Lightning's phone to make a call. By the sound of things, she was talking to Amodar. Must have seen "lieutenant" and figured one of Farron's superiors would make for a good emergency contact, especially if they could get a transport to the lowerworld. Fang was kneeling with her, cradling Lightning's head in her lap, desperately trying not to cry.

Light coughed again as she tried to rise. "Ah...!" Pain lanced through her body. Most of it, anyway. A fair bit of her left side was conspicuously numb. Fang pushed her back down gently. "Don't move. You'll make it worse."

"Ngh...what...what happened...?"

"You got hit. Bad. You're bleeding inside. Too much damage for Vanille to handle."

Lightning tried to shake her head, to push back the fog creeping in on her consciousness. Bad move. Another jolt of pain shot through her, eliciting a sharp cry. Her vision started to blur. "Fang..."

"Yeah, Light?"

"I feel like shit."

"You look like shit." The huntress managed a weak laugh. It would have been funnier if it weren't so true. Lightning's chest was almost caved in.

Another sharp, stabbing pain. _I didn't even move that time!_ Lightning closed her eyes and grunted.

Fang bit her lip. "Just hang in there, soldier girl. Vanille's calling for help." The Pulsian's voice sounded weak, far away. Lightning tried to speak, but found she had trouble getting her breath. All she could manage was a choked whisper. "Hey...Fang..."

"Right here." The huntress leaned in close.

"Don't...don't go anywhere...okay...?"

"Of course not. I'll be right here, Lightning. Always."

Lightning rested her head on Fang's knees, closing her eyes. "Always..."

* * *

Lightning Farron awoke in a dark place. Or did she have her eyes closed? She couldn't tell.

She was laying on her back, naked. She knew she was naked because the floor was cold against her backside. Or was there a floor? She couldn't see a thing.

Instinctively, she flexed her extremities. She touched her left thumb to each of four fingertips, then repeated the process for her right. She wiggled her toes. Everything seemed to be functioning. Gingerly, she raised herself to a sitting position. Looking around, she glimpsed a faint, pink light in the distance. _Now we're getting somewhere. _She felt around blindly, double-checking to make sure her clothes and gunblade were nowhere nearby, then stood.

"Anyone here?" Her voice was swallowed up by the darkness. It sounded empty and hollow in her ears.

_Guess not._

Lightning padded on bare feet toward the source of the faint, pink glow. At fifty yards, she could see the source of it. At twenty, it began to take on a definite shape. As she came upon it, she saw that it was a rose, frozen in shining crystal. It seemed to pulse with its own inner glow, a glow that intensified as she reached her hand towards it.

The rose shattered at her touch, in a brilliant flash of crimson light that banished the darkness surrounding her. She covered her face with her arms as the light enveloped her, drawing her into a searing embrace.

_What was it that they tell people who're dying? Go towards the light?_


	7. Roses

**Rated M for mature. All characters property of Square-Enix. It needs a bit more proofreading, but I wanted to get it up sooner rather than later because I may not get another chance to work on it anytime soon. I'm also leaving it open for the moment because I may also post an alternate ending. Enjoy.**

**6/7/10: Screw the alternate ending. I might upload it at some point in the future. Lemme know if you really want me to finish it. I'm really wanting to start work on some Farroncest though, so we'll probably be seeing that first.  
**

**

* * *

**

**_"In all things it is better to hope than to despair."_**

**_~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe~  
_**

* * *

"So...you just woke up here?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Have you tried to get out?"

"I walked for hours. Nothing but this damn meadow."

Lightning sighed. Serah frowned at her feet.

"Then...how did I get here?"

"I dunno. You came up behind me. You don't remember?"

"Nope."

_...vitals are stable, but so far she isn't showing any sign of..._

Lightning shook her head. "I don't get it...the last thing I remember is that cie'th clocking me. And now I'm here. I figure I must be dead. The afterlife is pretty boring if that's the case."

Serah stared at her hands. "Well, that explains me...I'm not even real. That's a load off, I guess."

The sisters were sitting in a field of flowers that stretched as far as either of them could see. Kind of fruity for Light's taste, the meadow was a perfect match for Serah. Maybe Lightning was the figment and Serah was dead. The soldier grimaced. That thought was too painful to entertain. She laid back in the tall grass, blowing the bangs out of her eyes. "So...what do you think? Am I dead?"

Serah hugged her knees. "I...I don't think so. I'm not sure where you're at, though."

Lightning closed her eyes, considering all the possibilities. Dead? Coma? Bad trip? Maybe Vanille drugged that pancake breakfast. She sighed. "Well, I guess we'll figure it out. Right, Serah?"

"...Serah?"

She opened her eyes and looked around, but her sister was gone. In her place was a crystalline blue teardrop, glinting in the sun. She grabbed it, holding it up to the light. "Well, damn."

* * *

Serah sat at the kitchen table, head in her hands, her body racked with tears. Snow had a comforting arm draped around her shoulders. It was a horrible sight. Doubly so for Fang and Vanille, both of whom were practically overwhelmed with guilt.

Within an hour of receiving Vanille's call, Amodar had had a medical transport to Oerba. No questions asked. There'd be time for that when his best sergeant's life wasn't ticking away. The doctors had said that her internal injuries were manageable, but she'd received serious head trauma. The soldier was comatose.

* * *

"Yo, Lightning."

Sazh. The pilot slowly approached from behind. "How ya' feeling?"

Lightning sighed. "Shitty. I wanna get out of here." The older man sat down next to her with a grunt. "Don't I know it." He ran a hand through his afro. "You took a pretty serious knock to the head, though. Might not be that easy."

"Tell me something I don't know," the soldier snorted.

"Wish I could. I'm not really here. You figured that much out. I think I'm just here to help you figure things out on your own."

"Well, that's just loads of help." Lightning swatted at a flower. "I don't know what the hell's going on."

Sazh glanced over at her. "Well, let's go over what you do know. One; you took a blow for Vanille, got your ass knocked out. Hurt like hell, right?"

Lightning rubbed her side, where her ribs had been shattered. "Yeah..."

"But it doesn't hurt any more?"

"No..."

"So you're either on some badass morphine drip, or this isn't real. We're in the middle of nowhere, so we can rule out that first one."

"Then this is a dream? Or am I dead?"

Sazh frowned. "That one's a little bit harder to figure out. Do you think you're dead?"

_...all there is now is to wait and see if her condition improves..._

"No...I don't think so."

"And why's that?"

"I dunno. I just don't 'feel' dead, if that makes any sense."

"Makes perfect sense." Sazh stood, dusting off his jacket.

"You leaving too, then?" Lightning stared at her boots.

"Got to. Don't worry. You'll have another visitor soon. Just don't stop thinkin' about it, alright?"

"Easy for you to say..." When Lightning looked up, the pilot was gone. A single chocobo feather floated across her field of vision on a draft, and she plucked it out of the air, stowing it with the crystal tear in her thigh pack.

* * *

Sazh tapped Hope on the shoulder. "C'mon, kid. We should get out of here. Visiting hours are almost over."

"I'll catch up." He waved the older man on. "Just a few more minutes, okay?"

Sazh sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Alright, man...me and Dajh will be waiting outside."

Hope leaned in close over Lightning as Sazh left the room. She looked so unnatural, hooked up to these machines. Weak. Frail. Patently _not _Lightning. "C'mon, Light...you're too stubborn to go out like this. I know you better than that."

The boy sighed. "Well...I'll be back later, I guess. You better be up soon, though. Serah and Snow really miss you. And Fang." _And me..._

* * *

Lightning had been walking for hours and she was no closer to the end of this damned meadow. The moment she stopped to take a break, she heard footsteps in the grass behind her. She sighed. "Y'know, I'm getting a little sick of this crap."

"Sick of what?" Hope came up beside her, the two of them staring off into the distance.

"Of you guys popping in and out and never helping. Of being lost in this damn meadow."

"Figure anything out?"

"I think...I think I may be in a coma."

"Good. Not that you're in a coma, I mean. But that you've got it sorted out." He dropped to the ground, inviting her to sit with him.

"Doesn't really help me, though. I'm no closer to getting out of here."

"True." Hope scratched the back of his neck. "Listen, Light...everyone really misses you."

She sighed. "I'm trying, Hope. Really. There's not much else I can do, though."

"Well, you're not really here. It's all in your head. Maybe the answer isn't physical."

"You mean I should stop hiking?"

"I mean you should take some time to think, like Sazh said." Lightning drew the soft chocobo feather from her pack, inspecting it. "Here," Hope said, holding out her survival knife. She took it from him gingerly. "How did you get this?" she asked, looking over at him. He arched an eyebrow back at her.

"Okay...stupid question. So, I guess you've gotta go too, then?"

_...me and Dajh will be waiting outside..._

"Yeah, I probably should. I'll see you when you wake up, okay?"

"When? More like if." She looked over, but the boy was already gone. Sighing, she pulled the crystal from her pack, laying it next to the feather and knife, gazing at them pensively.

* * *

"I'm sure she'll be alright."

He had been saying it for weeks now, and Lightning still hadn't improved. Serah picked at her breakfast morosely. Snow's optimism was trying, sometimes.

"C'mon, Serah. You've got to eat. You've barely eaten all month." Snow sat beside her, gently resting his hand on her arm. "Please...?"

Serah sighed and picked up a strip of bacon, breaking off a tiny bite. Snow's hand moved to her other shoulder, holding her gently. "Do you want to go visit her today?"

"Why? It won't change anything." Snow winced. He had never seen Serah depressed. Ever. The girl would barely eat now. She just didn't care. About anything. It was painful to watch.

* * *

"Serah's in poor shape."

Snow was kneeling next to Lightning in the grassy meadow. "Of course she is...how d'you think I'd feel if it were her in here?" The blonde chewed his lip.

_...she needs you, Light..._

"It's different. She needs you, Light."

"And what if I can't come out of it? What then? Are you gonna take care of her?"

"Not me. The real Snow will, though."

Lightning sighed. "Again with the bullshit mind games..." Snow grabbed her arm, catching her off guard. She slapped it away.

"It's not a game, Lightning. There's a lot of people out there who miss you. Need you back."

"Then help me get out of here!"

Snow stared at his feet. "I can't, Light...it's not up to me."

"Yeah, I know." Lightning let out an exasperated sigh. "It's all on me."

"Now you're getting it. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be up and about soon enough. You're too much of a workaholic to just lie in bed all day."

Lightning could hear the smirk in his voice. She swung her arm out to slap him, but her hand only passed through thin air. _Of course._

Sighing, she lay down in the grass. A gleam of metal caught her eye. Plucking the engagement pendant from the ground, she examined the crystal sphere housed within it, admiring the way it refracted the sunlight before placing it with her other trinkets.

* * *

"C'mon, Fang. We have to visit her some time."

Fang chewed her thumbnail. "No, we bloody well don't." The Pulsians had visited Lightning twice in the six weeks she'd been comatose. Fang wasn't sure how Vanille felt. But for her part, the huntress couldn't bear seeing Light in that condition. Partly because she was just terrible to look at, hooked up to machines like that. But also because of the overwhelming, soul-crushing guilt that Fang felt whenever she saw the soldier. _I got too cocky. I should've seen it coming. Should've been there to protect her._

She had voiced these concerns to Vanille, but the redhead just told her to stop beating herself up. Said she couldn't have done anything. _Bullshit. _Fang sighed. "Do we have to?"

Vanille sat next to her, hugging her around the middle. "Yes. We do. And I'm sure Serah and Snow would like us to get out for awhile, have some alone time." The Pulsians has been staying at the Farron home since arriving on Cocoon. Although, at the moment, it was technically the Villiers home. There was only one Farron left on the planet, and she was stuck in a hospital bed. Fang sighed again, a protracted, defeated, exasperated sigh. _She needs us to be there for her._

"Alright. We'll go."

* * *

"So," the redhead asked, "What do you think they're for?"

Her and Lightning examined the row of items laid out before them. Serah's tear, Sazh's feather, Hope's knife, Snow's necklace, and the new addition Vanille had contributed; the photo of her and Fang from the orphanage.

"They're symbols...of friends. Who want me to come back?"

_...maybe she's waiting for something..._

"Yeah. Something like that." Vanille took a bite of her apple, a loud crunch piercing the silence of the meadow. Lightning eyed the fruit. "Where did you get that?"

"Dunno. Had it when I got here. Want a bite?"

"No use. I probably can't even taste it. Back to business."

"Right." Vanille took another bite, then leaned in to examine the tokens. "They mean something. Everyone keeps visiting you in here. Maybe your brain is trying to convince you that we want you back."

Lightning thought of the huntress. Of the night they had spent together in Oerba before everything went to hell. "Doubt it. I already know they want me back."

"Right, they. Sorry, I keep forgetting that I'm not really me."

"How does that work?"

"Dunno. So," Vanille said, picking up the photo and examining it, "There's only one left, right? Maybe it'll help you figure things out when she shows up."

"And I don't suppose you're going to stay long?" Lightning eyed the redhead suspiciously.

"Doubt it. But it's not really up to me. It's up to whatever messed up part of your brain keeps dragging us in here," she replied with a smirk.

"Alright, then." Lightning lay back in the grass, closing her eyes. "I've waited this long. I can wait a little longer."

The next time she opened her eyes, Vanille was gone.

* * *

"Vanille, this was a bad idea. I can't stand to see her like this."

Vanille stood and stretched. "Fang, listen. It's not your fault...but she needs you right now. I dunno if she knows it, but she does."

"She can't even hear me!"

"You don't know that."

Fang sighed and buried her head in her hands. Vanille placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. _This is backwards...she's supposed to be the one protective of me. _"Look...just take a few minutes alone with her, alright? Give her the present. I'll be right outside if you need me." With that, the perky redhead was gone, leaving Fang alone with the love of her life and the million gil's worth of equipment keeping her alive.

Fang stared at the antiseptic white tile between her sandals. _What do you say to a coma patient...? _She scooted her chair closer. "Lightning...I...I don't know if you can hear me..."

_I can hear you loud and clear._

"...but I'm gonna give it a go anyway. I'm...I'm sorry for what happened..."

_It wasn't your fault, Fang. Shit happens._

"...I brought you something..."

_You shouldn't have._

"I didn't know what kind of flowers you liked...but I remembered...your crystal was a rose, right? When we were l'cie?" Fang drew the vase and rose out, filling the vessel at the tap and setting it on Lightning's bedside table. "And it's like you...beautiful...but with thorns." The huntress managed a weak chuckle.

_Roses are..._

"Anyway...Vanille's waiting..."

_...my favorite..._

"...so I'd better be going..."

_...please don't leave..._

Fang rose and turned to the door.

* * *

"So, soldier girl. Looks like the shoe's on the other foot now, eh? Now who's waiting on who to wake up?"

Lightning opened her eyes. Same damned happy meadow. She turned to the unmistakable voice. "I was wondering when you were gonna show up. Got something for me?"

Fang sat down beside her, cross-legged. "All in due time. First, we've got something to sort out."

_She can't even hear me!_

"Alright, then." Lightning rose to a seated position, crossing her legs in the same fashion as Fang. "Go for it."

"I'm..."

_I'm sorry for what happened._

"It wasn't your fault, Fang." Lightning shrugged. "Shit happens. We deal with it." Fang punched the dirt angrily.

"You call this dealing with it!"

"Yeah. I think that's what this whole damn meadow is about. I think it's why you guys keep visiting me. I think I finally having it figured out. Like...it's some kind of coping mechanism. Trying to come to grips with it, y'know?"

Fang cast her gaze down. "Yeah...sounds like you've got it all figured out, soldier girl. Here."

_I brought you something._

She held out her token. It was a crystal, six inches long, in the shape of a beautiful pink rose. Lightning admired it for almost a minute before she plucked it from her hand, setting it next to the other trinkets. It glowed with an inner radiance that outshone all the others, enveloping them.

"That may just well be your way out of here," Fang remarked.

_Beautiful...but with thorns._

"And what if it just takes me further?" The light from the rose was pulsating now. The other items were nowhere to be seen, swallowed up by it.

"You'll never know until you try."

_I'd better be going._

"It's now or never, soldier girl." Fang leaned in, planted a firm kiss on Lightning's lips. Quick, but passionate. She pulled away slowly. "I'll see you on the other side, okay?"

Lightning nodded, turning to the crystal. The light was still expanding, threatening to engulf her. Without looking back, she reached out to gently touch it with a single fingertip.

The meadow shattered, plunging her into darkness.

* * *

Fang stopped in the doorway. _That couldn't be._ She could have sworn she'd heard a weak moan. Turning slowly, she walked back to the bed, sitting down and leaning over the soldier. "Light...?"

This time, it was unmistakable. A low, long moan that almost sounded like Fang's name. The huntress felt her breath catch. "Lightning...are you there? Can you hear me?"

Lightning's eyes fluttered open, the darkness giving way to the harsh fluorescent lighting of a hospital room. Groggily, she scanned the room, taking in the walls, the tiles of the ceiling, the machinery next to her, and last but not least, Fang's shocked expression. "Loud and clear..."

"You're...you're really up..."

"Yeah...I feel like shit, though...how long have I been out?"

"About a month and a half...hang on, I need to call a nurse!" Fang started to rise, but was stopped by a surprisingly firm hand on her wrist. "Not yet."

Fang leaned in. "What's the matter? Need something?" Lightning licked her lips, looking hungrily into Fang's eyes. "Yeah..." her head lunged forward, catching Fang's lips in a passionate but gentle kiss. Fang, to her credit, only registered shock for an instant before returning the kiss. _Oh, Etro, I love this girl._

**

* * *

**

**EPILOGUE**

**Three months later**

* * *

Yuj raised his glass into the air, giggling like a madman. He had already had four drinks, and the man was somewhat of a lightweight. "To Lightning! Twenty two _-hic-_ years old and she's already done more than most of us will manage in our entire _-hic-_ lives!"

Snow and the other members of NORA humored him, grinning as they raised their own glasses. "Hear, hear!" Lightning sighed as she sidled up next to her brother-in-law and tapped him on the shoulder. "Snow...I appreciate you organizing my birthday party. I really do. But was it necessary to invite your _entire_ gang?"

The living room was near maximum capacity. Among the guests; 24 in total; were Sazh, Hope, Vanille, Amodar, Yuj, Gadot, Lebreau, Maqui, and several members of NORA that Lightning only vaguely knew. Of course, Snow, Serah and Fang were there too. The four of them did live together, after all. "I didn't invite _all_ of them," he grinned down at her. She rolled her eyes.

Fang sidled up next to the two, handing her empty glass to Snow. "Hey, hero. Why don't you go freshen me up?" The hulking blonde wandered off to refill Fang's drink, leaving her alone with Lightning. She smiled at the soldier, wrapping her arms around her. "Have I told you recently that I love you?"

Lightning returned the embrace. "Yeah. Twenty times a day for the last three months."

"Just wanted to make sure." Fang leaned in for a kiss.

"So," Lightning asked as they disengaged, "what did you get me for my birthday?"

"Mmm...I was saving your present for tonight. You'll just have to wait."

Lightning pulled the huntress closer into the embrace. "Can I have a hint, at least?"

Fang grinned at her, flashing her canines. "Sure." She leaned in quickly, sinking her teeth into Light's shoulder, growling around the flesh and eliciting a low moan from the soldier. Of all the people in the room, only Yuj saw the gesture. He forgot he was holding a drink and started to applaud, dropping his glass on the floor. As it shattered, he jumped backward, frightened, tipping his seat over and raising a roar of applause from the crowd. Lightning sighed as Fang pulled away. "I guess I'd better go clean that up..."

* * *

Lightning lay in bed next to Fang, one arm draped across her lover, both of them panting and covered with a film of sweat. Lightning's body was adorned with several bite marks, while Fang had a series of red lines running down her back where the soldier had scratched her. Lightning leaned in to kiss the huntress, tasting her own flesh and sex in the older woman's mouth. She moaned into the kiss.

They parted slowly, pressing their foreheads together. "Lightning..." Fang breathed.

"Mmhmm?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"Happy birthday."

Lightning grinned down at her. In the end, they were just two people who had gotten lucky. A million to one chance to find your soul mate, and the two of them had beaten the odds. They had been through so much, but they were ready and willing to take on so much more for each other. Nothing mattered to Fang when she held the soldier in her arms. Every distraction in Lightning's life became meaningless when she tasted Fang's lips. The two felt that they could take on the world as long as they had each other.

As long as they could be together.


	8. Afterword, and an Announcement

**Rated M for mature, all characters...okay, well, maybe not so much this bit...**

* * *

"_**Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience."**_

_**~Ralph Waldo Emerson~**_

* * *

"_**Holy hell, has it really been almost two years since I've posted? O_o"**_

_**~Moogleworks, MD, PhD, BS, etc~**_

* * *

Alright, so. For everyone who gives a rarab's ass, an update has been posted to my profile. I wasn't sure how to make sure people would be notified, and this was all I could think of, etc, etc. You can read all the details on my profile. If you want the short and sweet version; I may be writing something in the near future, probably around the release of FFXIII-2 or shortly thereafter. That's a big may. I don't want to promise anything if I know I can't deliver. Just...y'know, in case anyone reads this and still cares, I wanted to make sure you get the update. I know that's unlikely, but I'll take what I can get.

As for "Together," yeah...it's well and truly done. Between canon issues due to XIII-2, as well as a satisfactory ending to begin with, I really don't have any motivation to do that "alternate ending" or to continue and stories in the same canon/timeline as this one. So, for future reference, unless otherwise explicitly stated, this story is not canon to FFXIII, the greater Final Fantasy series, or any of my possible future stories. Just wanted to throw that out there so I don't confuse anyone (or myself) continuity-wise.

And a sincere apology to anyone who saw I posted a new chapter and got all excited. This is not a legitimate chapter. But, hopefully, I'll have something for you to read soon. Hopefully. Soon. Fingers crossed.


End file.
